Reading Ahead of the Lines
by Kurozakura
Summary: This fic is something of a sequel to Reading Between the Lines. Neji's ANBU team is sent to investigate Deidara's explosion and comes across Team Kakashi in hot pursuit of Sasuke and Itachi. The chase is on, but who are the hunters and who are the hunted?
1. Chapter 1

Reading Ahead of the Lines – Chapter 1

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(AN) Well, I finally got tired of waiting for the manga to progress. I fear it will be months before the manga goes back to Team Kakashi, and even if it does, I doubt Sakura will be doing much. (I would love to be proven wrong, however!) Even slimmer are our chances of ever seeing Neji again. So I've decided to branch off from Reading Between the Lines and write my own ending. Take _that_ Kishimoto-sensei! **I will continue updating Reading Between the Lines** as I get material for it, but that will probably be a slooooow process.

**This story picks up from Reading Between the Lines – Chapter 21: Nowhere Fast. If you haven't read Reading Between the Lines, please check my profile and do so before you read this fic. **

This fic is dedicated to everyone who left a review for RBtL. Without you, I probably wouldn't have continued this far. Honto ni arigato gozaimasu! (/AN)

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Standard Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. I don't make any money from this.

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Shiragawa signaled for the team to halt shortly before midnight, and the four cloaked figures landed lightly in a small clearing. They had been forced to slow down after night fell, and after a certain point, it was better to rest rather than continue at half-pace.

"We'll have two people on guard throughout the night. Hyuuga, take first watch. I'll take second, Koyama, you take third," the grizzled man said. "Uzuki, depending on how long this new mission lasts, we'll make provisions for you to rest later."

"Understood," the three younger shinobi replied together.

After a brief and silent meal of dried rations, the two other men settled into their bedrolls. Neji sat down beneath one of the nearby trees and began methodically scanning the area.

Earlier that day, Uzuki had sent their report back to ANBU headquarters. Surrounding the blast site, there were traces of two Akatsuki members, Uchiha Sasuke, and three unknown people. One of the rogue ninjas from Akatsuki was skilled with exploding clay and caused the enormous explosion. Team Kakashi, along with Yamato and Kurenai's old team, had left the site heading north.

After waiting around the communications hut for an hour, they were given a new assignment. The Hokage was sending two more ANBU teams to investigate the area around the crater, and after briefing everyone on the situation, Neji's team was ordered to follow Team Kakashi and assist in any way possible. Once they caught up to the eight Konoha shinobi, they would be under Kakashi's command.

Neji had expected to catch up to Team Kakashi before sundown, much less by midnight. Shiragawa had asked him who the weakest of the eight was, and Neji had immediately replied, "Hyuuga Hinata." Assuming Kakashi would not leave anyone behind, she would definitely slow them down.

However after running all day, they had not managed to close the distance on the three hour lead. Neji figured Hinata must be pushing herself beyond her limits to keep up with Naruto. If Uchiha Sasuke was involved, Naruto and Sakura must be foaming at the mouth.

Sakura... Damnit, why did his first ANBU mission have to get tangled in this mess?

Uzuki came over to lean against the tree where Neji sat. She had her mask in her hands and was toying with the strings. "You're thinking of that girl again, aren't you?" she asked quietly. "That pink-haired kunoichi on Kakashi's team."

Neji jerked involuntarily. How had she known? He was being so careful to control his demeanor.

"Don't worry," Uzuki continued. "I doubt the others noticed." She gave Neji a wink.

"What gave it away?" Neji asked sheepishly. He should have known how good these ANBU ninja would be.

"Just a subtle change in your stance," Uzuki said. "If you were initially tense, and then the girl or her comrades came up, you would relax to normal. If you were loose, you would tighten back up. You always came back to neutral."

Neji smirked. He was too good at playing it cool, it seemed. For now on, he would be even more careful.

"Also, I was at the celebration for that girl's Chuunin Exam," Uzuki pointed out. "I saw the way you danced together."

Neji felt his face begin to flush and wished he hadn't pushed his mask to the side of his head. That night... at the time dancing had been just a game to him. Later, though, he had come to recognize it as something more. As a kid, it had taken him a little while to realize that he was attracted to the girl. After that celebration, however, he had realized that the attraction was physical as well as everything else.

"You guys were pretty good," Uzuki said off-handedly, even though Neji was sure she could see his embarrassment. "You looked happy."

For the first time, Neji took note of the woman beside him. There was a definite wistfulness in her voice.

"Once we get back to our original mission, maybe I'll have time to teach you some more of the dance," she said as her tone returned to normal.

'Too bad I don't have anyone to dance with anymore,' Neji thought to himself. He had a hunch he would never feel like dancing again.

"Will you be alright going without sleep tonight?" he asked Uzuki in an attempt to change the subject. He realized how easily she would see through his diversion before the words were fully out of his mouth.

Instead of calling him out, she merely smiled, and Neji heard the same sadness in her voice as she said, "Yes, I'll be fine."

He didn't ask for an explanation, and they sat in silence before Uzuki spoke again. "I suppose I should tell you since we'll be teammates for a while, but I have been having nightmares for a long time now. Since... since Hayate died."

Neji didn't need special perception to see the strain in her eyes as she kept her voice even.

"The nightmares are unpredictable, and sometimes I shout and yell. At times, I'm also difficult to wake. That's why I don't sleep unless the situation is secure," she said conversationally. "Also, that's why I'm usually assigned to communications missions where there is rarely any danger at night while we sleep. I haven't been on a mission that required staying overnight in enemy territory since... since then."

'Just like Kurenai,' Neji thought to himself. Once again he was reminded of Sarutobi Asuma's funeral and all the unwanted emotions it had created.

"You're thinking of her again," Uzuki said with a small smile.

Neji narrowed his eyes at the dark-haired woman. "I didn't change at all this time," he said defensively.

"I guess I can just tell, then," Uzuki said. "I envy you, Hyuuga. Treasure the time you have with your girl."

"Actually…" Neji shifted uncomfortably against the tree. "Actually, we just broke up."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Uzuki said with surprising sincerity. "I hope it wasn't over something as stupid as doing it for her own good."

Neji stared at the woman. No one had ever been inside his head like this before. No one.

Uzuki reached down and patted him on the head like he was her younger brother. "Hayate did the same thing to me when we were teenagers. Maybe a couple years older than you are now."

She sat down on her heels and hugged her arms around her knees. "It's something all shinobi go through sooner or later. We live such transient lives, so why have relationships that only bring grief in the end, right?"

Neji leaned back and looked at the stars peeking through the canopy. He knew that would be answer enough for Uzuki.

"I'll tell you why," Uzuki said, turning to look at Neji. "Because unless we have relationships worth fighting for, we're useless as shinobi. They are what drive us forward and give us a reason to fight. I've seen plenty ninja who cut themselves off from the world. They were cold and distant, and many were extremely talented. None made it past thirty. They simply had no reason to continue."

Uzuki tapped her lips with her finger thoughtfully. "Though I suppose many are driven by power or greed or hatred, which isn't quite as noble as the point I'm trying to make. But I don't think you're like that, Hyuuga."

"Well, it wasn't entirely one-sided," Neji told her. "We grew up. We have different priorities now."

Uzuki nodded thoughtfully. "I guess I can't argue with that. But you need to ask yourself if your new priorities are really more important than each other."

They fell into silence again and let the night sounds of the forest accompany their thoughts. Finally, Uzuki spoke again in a quiet voice, "I won't lie and say it wasn't a difficult road. Falling in love with Hayate, that is. But I will never regret it for a day. It was worth every tear."

Neji thought it was all well and good to have such idealistic sentiments, but ideals didn't always mesh with real life. "Then what haunts your dreams?" he asked simply.

"Oh, lots of things," Uzuki replied with a wave of her hand. "Guilt that his murderer still walks free, guilt that I'm still alive when he is not, guilt that… well, it seems I have a lot of deep-seeded issues with guilt. No matter how I console myself during the day, nothing stops my subconscious at night." The last was said with a sigh.

"But," she said, pointing a slim finger at Neji, "I don't regret a thing, even if I feel guilty about the events after his death. I don't want to sound harsh, but if your pink-haired girl died tomorrow while on this mission, what would you regret most?"

The question struck Neji like a physical blow. He had been avoiding this topic since the funeral because he knew how deeply it would affect him.

Uzuki stood up and patted him on the head again. "Why don't you get some sleep now? I'll wake Shiragawa-taichou in a little bit."

Neji started to protest, but his mind was beginning to churn, and he gave in as Uzuki pushed him back towards the center of their camp.

He settled into his blanket and stared up at the dark trees overhead. Here and there, a smattering of stars peeked through the branches. It reminded him of the first night of the trip back from Suna when Sakura had come to him seeking comfort. She had snuggled against him so trustingly, resting her head on his shoulder and letting him soothe her to sleep. If only it had stayed that way…

If the worst happened on this mission, and she died, what would he regret? Would he regret breaking up? Would he regret not fighting harder to stay with her?

Then he remembered the night he had watched her across the rooftops as she cried over the photo of her team. Despite her anger and disappointment, she had still clung to those old memories. She still wanted that traitor to come home.

And there it was. His biggest fear laid bare – he was afraid she still loved Uchiha Sasuke, and that she loved him more than Neji. He forced himself to be absolutely truthful – he left the village not so he could set her free to make her own decisions, but to avoid having to see his biggest fear come true. He had pushed her away before she had the chance to leave him.

He was disgusted with himself. Since when was he the type to run from his fears or let his fears dictate his life?

But it was easy to see how foolish he had been in hindsight. Hindsight always made things simpler. At the time, he had been crushed by her sudden change in attitude, and he simply had not dealt with it well. He should have swallowed his pride and let Sakura make her decision herself. He should have supported her quest to find her lost teammate, even if it meant the loss of the most important thing in his life. If that's what would make her happiest…

That was so painfully idealistic – just like what Uzuki had been saying. But sadly it was true, and Neji found himself relaxing now that he had finally been honest with himself. Whatever happened, whatever she chose to do, as long as it was what she truly wanted, he could be content.

If she died tomorrow, what would he regret most? Not telling her to her face that he loved her. The answer was a lot simpler than he had imagined.

He heard a quiet rustling as Uzuki approached his bedroll. "Looks like you've finally worked things out, Neji-kun," she whispered as she crouched beside him.

"How…," he began, but she cut him off.

"But now you need to get some sleep for tomorrow," she said gently. Placing two fingers on the bandages on his forehead, she made a quick hand seal.

As sleepiness quickly overcame Neji, he was surprised that he wasn't angry or annoyed that Uzuki used a jutsu on him. He knew she wouldn't do anything that caused him harm.

'This must be what it's like to have an older sister,' he thought just before sleep overtook him.


	2. Chapter 2

Reading Ahead of the Lines: Chapter 2

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Two hours past sunset, Sakura finally decided to say something. She added a few bursts of chakra to her stride and came up alongside Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei, isn't it time we made camp for the night?" she asked the white-haired ninja. "I can barely see where my next step is."

The older man just gave her a crinkled smile and said, "Don't worry Sakura-chan, we'll stop in a little bit. But first, we need to let Naruto get rid of some more energy."

She squinted ahead through the darkness and could barely make out the orange figure sprinting beside Kiba and Akamaru.

Once Naruto's clone had spotted Sasuke earlier that day, Kiba had picked up the trail again. At first, she had assumed that Sasuke was returning to Grass Country and Otogakure up north. This new trail, however, headed east.

During their only respite that afternoon, Sakura had cornered Naruto and asked what had happened to his clone.

"Did you get to speak to him at all?" she had asked him.

"No," Naruto had replied, his eyes lowering to inspect the ground. "He attacked my clone immediately." The two teammates fell into silence as they each contemplated their old friend.

"But don't worry, Sakura-chan," Naruto had said suddenly with a big grin. "This time we'll bring him back for sure!"

Sakura had smiled back for her teammate's sake, but inside she felt disappointment cinch tighter around her chest. Disappointment and also empathy for how Naruto must feel.

Since then, however, Naruto had once again personified determination. Kakashi had been forced to slow Naruto's pace three times, and even now after a full day of travel, the team was moving faster than ever. Kiba had a strained look on his face as he pushed himself to keep up with the blond at the head of the pack. Just before sunset, Hinata had finally given in to exhaustion and rode on Akamaru's back for several miles.

Two hours after Sakura spoke the voice of reason, Kakashi finally grabbed Naruto by the collar and announced that they would be setting up camp for the night. As expected, the blond tried to wriggle away with the explanation that they were close to catching up to Sasuke.

"And wander into a trap we didn't see coming because it was too dark?" Kakashi had replied with a dismissive shake of the head. "It's better to catch up tomorrow when it's light out and after we've had a chance to rest."

Turning to the rest of the group, Kakashi announced, "We'll keep a two-person watch throughout the night. Naruto, you'll take the first shift with me since you have so much energy."

With a collective sigh, the rest of the tired shinobi quickly set up a small camp and crawled under their blankets.

Just as Sakura was drifting off to sleep, she heard Naruto start shouting. In an instant, everyone was on their feet with various sharp objects held defensively.

From the dark forest, they heard a familiar voice. "Idiot, it's me. Calm down."

"Sai," Sakura sighed as she stowed her kunai back under her makeshift pillow. "Where the hell have you been?" she demanded, stalking over towards her newest teammate.

"Relax, hag. I found a suspicious person lurking around and decided to follow him for a little while. You guys were gone by the time I reached the explosion site," he said with a crappy smile. Sakura made a mental note to practice smiling with him some more.

"So who was it?" Yamato asked.

"I don't know," Sai said with a shrug. "He stayed one step ahead of me, and then I lost him at a stream. It didn't seem worth spending the time to find the trail again. His chakra felt... weird... though. That's why I followed him instead of immediately investigating the explosion."

"I wonder if it was Kabuto," Naruto said, scratching his head. "Hinata-chan said that guy was really messed up."

Hinata blushed furiously as she nodded her agreement.

"I tried to send a messenger bird, but you were moving too fast," Sai told them.

"Good job," Kakashi said. "Go ahead and get some rest now. You must have pushed hard to catch up to us."

Sai shrugged and slung his sheath off his back. "Oh, one other thing. There was an ANBU team searching around the explosion crater, so the Hokage already knows about that."

"That makes our job a little easier," Yamato said as he sat back down on the ground.

ANBU? Sakura's heart skipped a proverbial beat. She wondered if it could possibly have been Neji's team. Despite being so close to exhaustion, she couldn't manage to lull her self to sleep. 'If only Neji was here,' said a tiny voice in her head. Seriously. She was going to pound him into the ground when she saw him next.

Staring up at the stars twinkling through the trees, she started making plans. After this mission, assuming all went well, she would have to find some way to sneak into the Hokage's filing room where she kept all the classified information. Neji's mission assignment would be in there. She was pretty sure she could bypass all the security traps, and getting Tsunade out of the office for the evening only cost two bottles of sake.

She would need to request time off, though, and that would be the tricky part. Sure she could take some vacation time, but how would she explain leaving the village for weeks? 'Tsunade-shishou, I've decided to take a tour of the countryside. I want to go sightseeing in Kirigakure.' That wouldn't do at all.

She wracked her brain for a while before getting back up with a sigh. Glancing around the dark camp, she found Naruto a short distance away sitting on a log with his chin in his palm. His leg was bouncing up and down with pent up energy.

"We were getting close," he said as Sakura approached and sat down on the log. "Sasuke could be sleeping a mile from here!"

"Calm down, Naruto," Sakura said. "Kakashi-sensei was right – we can't just rush blindly ahead."

"If only we had traveled faster," the blond growled, punching one fist into his palm.

"Are you serious?" Sakura asked incredulously. "Naruto, that pace would kill most shinobi."

"But..."

"Look," she said, cutting off his protests. "If you seriously want to be Hokage someday, you need to pay attention to everyone else as much as you pay attention to yourself. More than yourself. You can't get caught up in your own emotions and lose sight of the big picture."

She gave him a light tap on the back of the head. "Didn't you notice how fatigued everyone was becoming tonight? As a leader, you need to take things like that into consideration."

"I know," Naruto sighed. "It's just that we're so close."

"I'll take watch from here. Go ahead and get some sleep," she told him. "You'll want to be in good condition when we catch up tomorrow."

"Thanks, Sakura-chan," he said as he stood up and stretched. "With your help, I'll be the best Hokage ever."

She gave him a small smile as he trotted off towards the mounds of sleeping bodies.

Two hours later, Sakura still hadn't figured out a good excuse for leaving the village on her own. Maybe she should just be honest with Tsunade? Maybe she should just run away like Sasuke did? At least in her case, she wouldn't be seeking out the most infamous ninja in Konoha history.

A light shuffling noise snapped her out of her reverie. "Hinata?" Sakura whispered when she saw the moonlight reflect on silver eyes. God, those silver eyes...

The shy girl sat down on the log where Naruto had originally been. "So what happened?" she asked, pulling her feet up to hug her knees.

"Happened? When?" Sakura asked, though she had a feeling she knew where this was going.

"With Neji-nii-san," was all Hinata answered.

Sakura decided to not bother playing with pretenses. "He… I…" She took a deep breath. "I guess I got too wrapped up with having my own team again, and I kind of pushed Neji away. I didn't mean to, though! If I had known…"

Hinata was toying with the strap on her sandals. "I-I thought it was really strange when he announced that he was joining ANBU so suddenly. I thought it was even stranger that he left the village immediately."

"I guess he couldn't wait to get away from me," Sakura said dryly, and she loathed the self-pity in her voice. She was getting downright sulky these days.

"I don't think that was it at all," Hinata said earnestly. "His opinion of you never wavered."

Sakura felt her chest start to ache again. "Tenten said she thought he was doing it for my own good. So I wouldn't be held back by him."

"That sounds like Neji-nii-san," Hinata nodded.

"But I wish he would have talked to me about it first!" Sakura said with clenched teeth.

"Maybe he thought confronting you would be worse?" the dark-haired girl ventured.

"I suppose," Sakura sighed. "Look, why don't you go back to sleep? I can cover for your shift. You haven't been on many missions lately so this must be extra tiring."

Hinata's hands balled into fists, and she said, "No, I don't want any special exceptions. I'm already embarrassed I couldn't keep up with the group."

Sakura admired the other girl's determination. She had to be exhausted at this point. Hell, Sakura was ready to pass out herself.

"Alright then, I'll leave it to you," Sakura told her. She had a hunch Kiba would probably wake up soon to spell his over-protected teammate.

As Sakura walked back to the camp, she tried to imagine what she would have said if Neji had confronted her about the situation. She paused next to her pack and forced herself to be honest. 'You would have been insulted and gotten defensive,' a voice in her head said. 'You would have thought he was being jealous and overbearing.'

With a deep sigh, Sakura flopped onto ground and put her hand over her eyes. He was smart not to have called her out about her actions. She had been too immature to see things from his perspective.

"Everything okay, Sakura-chan?" Naruto mumbled from nearby.

"Fine, fine," she replied, though to be truthful, she really was feeling better.

"Were you talking to someone?" the blond asked.

"Hinata came to take my place," Sakura told him.

"She's a weird girl," Naruto said, rolling over with his eyes still closed.

"You should give her a chance, Naruto," Sakura scolded lightly. "She's really working hard for this mission. You should get to know her better. I bet you'd get along well."

"Why would I want to get to know her better?" Naruto asked through half a snore.

Sakura rolled over and buried her face in her makeshift pillow. "Because Hyuugas can do more than just kill with their chakra."

With a barely-suppressed sigh, she began reanalyzing her options for tracking down Neji's ANBU team.

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Loversflame: Thanks for checking out this fic right away! It makes me feel better as I obsessively refresh the hits page…

Could-Careless: I hope that's a good thing! And I hope I can keep living up to expectations

nejisakura: I'm glad you like it! I will definitely be updating this fic faster since I'm only limited by my own free time.

NanbeiNoHana: Kanpai for hopeless romantics! I thought I had gotten too cynical, but then I started writing fanfics and I realized I still had it in me!

Mayumi Crescent Moon: Sorry, but unless we see more of Team Kakashi in the manga, Reading Beneath won't be updated nearly as quickly. I hope to update Reading Ahead much more frequently.

Da Cute Snowbunny: That's what this kinda-sequel is for! I was missing all the sweet moments Neji and Sakura had in my early chapters.

AngelWing1138: Yatta! I'm so glad you like this not-really-a-sequel. And I'm glad you like the title. I actually think hard and long before I name the chapters in Reading Beneath…

animeismyname: We had to set the boy straight somehow, right? Recognizing the problem is half the battle! Now on with the rest of the fic!

XxGreenxNailxX: I absolutely 100 promise that this fic (Reading Ahead) will be finished. Unless something happens to me. But that aside, I already have an idea of how I want to end it. It's just a matter of having the time to type it all out.

firevixen73: Please keep an eye out for updates because I will be posting new chapters much faster than I do for Reading Beneath.

Lady Light: I'm glad you like it! Thanks for coming to check out the semi-sequel!

KunoichiruleALL: I know, hisashiburi ne? One of the reasons I decided to write Reading Ahead is that I hated having to wait so long between updates for Reading Beneath.

bubbleyum: I'm glad you like both stories! I was worried it'd be too confusing. Hopefully I'll have something to write for Reading Beneath soon, but this fic will be updated at a much faster pace.

harunosakua: I'll try to have the next update in a week or so. I'm glad you like it so far!

Mistress DragonFlame: I'm glad you like what I'm doing with Reading Ahead, and don't worry about Uzuki. There is more to her than I've shown yet

cocoapuffaddict: I want more fluff, too! I'm glad you found Reading Beneath, and I hope you enjoy this spin-off, too!

Anilmathiel Greenleaf: I started off with Neji's ANBU team simply because I needed a team for him, but for some reason I really started to like the way Uzuki's character grew. We'll see more of her in the next chap!

A Cynical Person: Yatta:)

chaosdragon82: Not to make you feel guilty, but I was actually thinking to myself, "I hope all my Reading beneath readers find out about Reading Ahead… If chaosdragon hasn't seen it yet, maybe I should do another AN update…" P It's funny you mentioned having a good first chap, because I don't think the first chap of Reading Beneath is very good. I probably should have combined the first 4 chaps into one, but it's too late for me to go back now and change it. Anyway, I hope this update lived up to your expectations! As you can see, it's time we start angling towards a conclusion


	3. Chapter 3

Reading Ahead of the Lines: Chapter 3

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Neji awoke the next morning feeling surprisingly refreshed. In the faint light of the brightening sky, he could see Uzuki and Koyama sitting high up in a hickory tree. Nearby, Shiragawa was rolling up his blanket.

"I'm too old for this," the older man muttered. "I need a cigarette."

"Didn't expect to have to go slumming in the forest, eh, Taichou?" Koyama smirked as he and Uzuki leaped back down to the ground.

"Don't tease Shiragawa-taichou when he hasn't had his coffee," Uzuki scolded.

The weathered man just glared at his younger subordinates. His bloodshot eyes and tousled, graying hair made the sight rather sinister.

Koyama coughed into his fist. "Uh, we'll check the trail and wait for you guys up ahead a little." The two teammates beat a hasty retreat back into the trees, but Neji heard a faint echo of laughter before they were out of sight.

Neji quickly packed his bed roll and stuffed a few pieces of dried jerky in his mouth. Fastening his cloak around his shoulders, he tied his mask in place and nodded to Shiragawa. Without another word, the two men disappeared into the trees.

Just before noon, Shiragawa stopped the group as they approached the outskirts of a small village. Until now, following eight people had been relatively easy, despite those eight being well-trained shinobi. Here, though, the trail split up.

"Koyama and I will circle around the village and look for where the trail picks back up," Shiragawa barked. "Uzuki, go find an inn and rest for a couple hours. Neji, search the city to see if any of our targets or allies are still inside. I want both of you in civilian clothes. Meet on the other side of the village directly opposite this point in three hours. We might lose some ground, but we are not far behind. We'll make up the difference before sunset."

"Understood," the three replied together before Koyama and Shiragawa streaked off in different directions.

Neji and Uzuki quickly removed their chest armor and pulled out non-descript tunics from their packs. They unwound their leg bandages so their pants hung loose to the ankle and packed away their kunai holders and utility pouches. Arm guards and gloves likewise went into the packs. With a sigh, Neji pulled out a pair of tinted glasses with wire rims. Outside of Konoha, his eyes just stood out too much. At least his juin was already covered with a plain, black cloth.

Uzuki patted him on the shoulder consolingly and lead the way towards the village.

"Are you angry I put you to sleep last night?" Uzuki asked as they approached the main road into the town.

Neji shrugged. "Not really, it was for my own good," he said.

"I knew you wouldn't ever get to sleep otherwise," she said. "And it was important you got rest."

Neji stopped walking and stared at the older woman. It took Uzuki a few meters before she realized she was alone. She turned and cocked her head at Neji.

"I've never met someone who could read me the way you do," Neji said bluntly. "It's usually _me_ analyzing other people."

Uzuki shot him a sheepish grin. "I guess I should have told you about this sooner, but it tends to frighten people away from me," she said apologetically. Neji didn't like the way that sounded.

"I can read people's chakra," she said.

Neji's eyes narrowed, but Uzuki continued quickly, "Not the way Byakugan can see a person's chakra. Not in detail. I see colors and patterns, almost like a hazy aura that surrounds your body. I can tell when you're thinking about your kunoichi because the color of your chakra changes."

Her pretty mouth twisted a little. "After all these years, I still can't describe it well. And I can only read people who have well-developed chakra systems. I was originally accepted into ANBU so I could work in the Torture and Interrogation section. I knew when a guy was about to break or when he still had a ways to go."

"I can see how that would scare people away," Neji said thoughtfully with a nod, and Uzuki glanced at the ground abashedly.

"I've had similar experiences like that," he told her, lowering his glasses on his nose so he could give her a meaningful, silver-eyed look.

She smiled back at him and tugged on the ends of his hair. "I guess I shouldn't be complaining to you," she said chagrined. "I can just choose not to tell people about my ability."

They fell silent as more and more people began to appear on the road the closer they got to the village gates. Once inside, it took several blocks of dilapidated stone buildings before they reached the main market area.

"See you later," Uzuki said with a wave before disappearing into the throng of people wandering the streets. Vendors were hawking their wares from crowded carts on the sidewalk, and merchants wove their horse carts through the dusty streets.

Studying the busy crowd, Neji contemplated what to do next. He didn't expect to find much information in only three hours, and he doubted any of the Konoha ninja would be so careless as to be seen. His goal then, he supposed, was merely to see if anything of note had happened earlier that morning. Perhaps Team Kakashi had caught up to one of the Uchihas. The result of that would surely have the town talking.

He bought a newspaper from one of the vendors and found a place to sit at an outside cafe. When the waitress came over, he ordered the set meal without looking at the menu. He nodded curtly in response to the toothy smile the girl gave him as he opened his newspaper and began pretending to read.

Focusing on his senses, he listened to the various conversations going on around him. It was actually refreshing not to rely on his Byakugan. The two older ladies behind him were talking excitedly about a new book in their favorite series. To the right, a little boy was complaining to his mother about the bullies at school. Four businessmen at the table closest to the street were commenting on how strict their boss had become.

Out in the market, housewives browsed the fresh produce and fish stands or haggled over the price of bright-colored cloth. Men hurried back and forth carrying heavy boxes and barrels of merchandise, and children chased each other in loud clusters of shouts and laughter. Overall, there was nothing unusual about the scene.

His lunch arrived, and Neji was pleased to see that the special for the day was tuna on a bed of rice. He ate slowly and continued to watch the village bustle about its business. After an hour, he hadn't read a single article in the newspaper despite paging through the entire thing. He left a few coins on the table and walked back out into the throngs of people.

He had seen two men make a shady exchange on the far side of the square, and he casually made his way in that direction. One man with a greasy green bandana on his head hunched in the back of a small tent behind a stack of empty crates. Neji paused at the vendor next to the tent and pretended to examine the table.

The greasy little man cracked open the box he had received on the street, and Neji saw a few flashes of green jade. They were probably stolen goods, but at the moment that wasn't Neji's concern.

The jewelry merchant sidled over to Neji and rubbed his knobby hands together. "Anything catch young master's eye?" the old merchant wheezed. "Pretty little trinket for the ladies?"

Neji focused back on the table in front of him and actually looked at the display for the first time. Right away, he noticed a slim silver bracelet of swirling leaves and cherry blossoms that unsurprisingly made him think of Sakura. 'I owe her for making a mess of things,' he thought to himself.

Picking up the delicate bracelet, he asked the man for a price. "For you, young master, I will give a special discount. Only ten ryou for young master."

Neji nearly choked but decided he probably shouldn't haggle for an item that was going to be used for redemption. He shouldn't be spending this time shopping for jewelry, anyway. He tossed the coins on the old man's table and received a toothless, slightly unbelieving smile from the merchant.

"I just arrived today, Oji-san," Neji commented as the merchant wrapped the bracelet in a piece of cloth. "Has there been anything exciting going on in this village lately?"

"No, no, nothing ever happens here, young master," the merchant said, handing the tiny bundle to Neji. "Young master must come back to see old Shinji again. Young master surely has many pretty girls to buy trinkets for."

"Oh yes, tons," Neji replied dryly as he stepped back into the flow of people.

Even though he had over an hour left before meeting his team, Neji headed towards their rendezvous point. Nothing big had happened in this village, so either everyone hunkered down in hiding or they moved on.

The silver bracelet in his pouch was like a spur in his side. Whereas before he had been dismayed that his team was chasing after Kakashi, now he was impatient to catch up. He wanted to speak with Sakura, and the danger of this mission added urgency to his need to see her. Eight Konoha shinobi against Uchiha Itachi and his comrade were not bad odds. Especially with Kakashi and Yamato in charge. However, Neji was uncertain how Uchiha Sasuke and his new team factored into everything. Six against eight was all the difference in the world.

-----

A Cynical Person: LOL Thanks for being my dedicated fan(girl)

Could-Careless: Oh I definitely go over each update before I post it, though if I reread it too much I start losing objectivity. At a certain point, you have to just click that submit button and cross your fingers… (crosses her fingers)

rnc4: Thanks for leaving a review! I'm glad you like both stories – I thought long and hard before going ahead with this not-a-sequel.

AngelWing1138: If I could draw… if I had ANY artistic talent… I would totally illustrate the conversation in your review Too funny!

Da Cute Snowbunny: Poor Hinata that Naruto is so dense! If I have the chance, I'll smack a little sense into him ;)

TouchofPixieDust: I'm actually in the process of working out their reunion now... Stay tuned!

Lady Light: Thanks for always reading my updates and stopping to say hi :D

KunoichiruleALL: These updates will be a LOT faster than Reading Beneath. Glad you like it so far!!

sequha: I'm glad you found this sort-of-spin off! I was worried the Reading Beneath readers wouldn't find this new fic!

bubbleyum: Yay for epiphanies! Right now, I'm making lists of everything that needs to happen next. There are a LOT of ninja running around in those woods at the moment :P

cocoapuffaddict: Hey, I appreciate you guys taking the time to leave a review, so I want to take the time to say thanks! The talk between Sakura and Naruto was kind of my wishful thinking of how Naruto needs to mature. Manga-Sakura too, I guess. Their blind obsession with retrieving Sasuke kind of irks me…

nejisakura: Will do! These chaps are going to be posted much more regularly now!

zenia wulfe: Thanks! I'm really enjoying it, and not being constrained by the manga has kind of re-kindled the writing bug.

animevivverz: I'm glad you don't think I'm moving too slowly, but I didn't want to rush right into having them meet up again. I took a few chaps in Reading Beneath to split them up, so I didn't want to immediately undo all that. Thanks!

Mayumi Crescent Moon: I'm glad you're enjoying this fic! I hope to have my next update by next week (famous last words).

xPorcelainMaskx: Thanks so much for the review! I'm glad you're following both fics, and I hope I don't disappoint!

Drake-Azathoth: I agree with the lack of thrill over the manga… I'm glad you like the ANBU team. They're getting more face time than I had originally intended, and I'm usually hesitant about making up characters in a fanfic.

icy-cold refreshment: Yay for addictions! No wait… Well this is a good one ;) Fanfics and caffeine. That's the way to go…

FanFicHolic: Wow, thanks for the awesome review! I agree the manga is really starting to drag, though the repercussions of the current Jiraiya/Pein fight could be very interesting. But we all know how this goes – Jiraiya goes into his ultimate mode, Pein beats him with an uber-summoning, Jiraiya pulls something else out of his sleeve, Pein unleashes something new, rinse and repeat til the necessary character dies…

Uzuki is the ANBU chick who dated Hayate, who was the Jounin referee at the first Chuunin Exam until he was killed by Baki, the Kazekage's right-hand man. Confused yet? We saw her after Hayate was killed and again during the Sandaime's funeral. She was at the monument for fallen shinobi with Kakashi. That's about all I know about her… But back in Reading Beneath when Sakura and Neji end up dancing together,** she's the woman dancing with Kakashi.** Mwahahaha, it's all coming together…

There are a lot of good NejiSaku fics out there, so I'm really flattered that you hold Reading in such high regard. Thanks again!

reikari: Thanks for reading my alternate-ending-sequel! Please keep an eye out because I will be updating much faster now!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

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"Shit," Kiba cursed as the team landed on the bank of a wide river. Since the small village that morning, they had traveled due east towards the coast. "I lost the trail," he growled.

"This river makes a few more turns before emptying into the ocean two miles southeast from here," Kakashi told them. "The salt air will make tracking by smell difficult, so it's best if we split up. Everyone, get out your radios."

Once they all had their transmitters and receivers in place, the two teams headed across the water to the narrow peninsula of land between the river and the ocean. Yamato and his team angled slightly south while Team Kakashi headed northeast.

Sakura exchanged glances with Naruto, who gave her a confident smile. This was it. This was what they had been waiting for.

-----

"There's someone up ahead," Shino announced soon after entering the forest on the east side of the river. A steady flow of kikaichu flew in and out of his jacket.

Yamato signaled for them to halt.

"Hinata?" Kiba prompted.

"I-I can't see him yet, but I can feel something strange," Hinata said uncertainly. "Wait!" she gasped. "It-It's that guy from yesterday! Kabuto!"

Yamato fiddled with the transmitter around his neck. "Kakashi-senpai, we found Kabuto." After a few seconds of head nodding, he replied, "Roger that," and turned to the younger ninja. "You guys continue on searching. I'll deal with Kabuto."

"Understood," Kiba said.

The three Chuunin disappeared into the forest while Yamato prepared himself for the fight. His instructions were to apprehend Kabuto, who had recently been classified as an S-Class criminal. He couldn't let his senpai down.

-----

"Well this is unexpected," Kakashi said lazily.

Sakura shifted her weight slightly and waited for her teacher's signal. Before them stood a figure in an all-too-familiar black and red cloak.

"You three continue on and find Sasuke-kun. Keep an eye out for this guy's partner and avoid him at all costs," Kakashi instructed. "Take care of one another," he said with a cheery wave.

"Right," Naruto said. "Let's go, Sakura-chan. Sai."

Her two teammates disappeared back into the trees, and Sakura took one last glance over her shoulder. Kakashi had already pushed his hitai-ate onto his forehead and focused his multi-colored gaze on the blue-skinned man.

"Take care, Kakashi-sensei," she said quietly before chasing after Naruto.

-----

"What the hell?" complained the white-haired guy. "Sasuke said to stop the loud-mouthed blond, but there ain't no blond here."

"You need to have another chat with your _friends_, Juugo," sighed the girl with glasses.

"They said there were three young Konoha ninja coming this way, and they were right," the big guy said simply.

"Forget it. Let's go find the people Sasuke-kun was talking about," the girl said, turning her back with a dismissive wave.

"Tch, whatever," the first guy said as he unclasped an enormous sword from his back. The handle extended with a click. "I'll kill these guys, and then we can go find the others."

"Oi, don't talk like we're not even here," Kiba barked angrily. "You're the ones who were traveling with Sasuke. Tell us where he is."

The girl whirled back around, "What do you care about Sasuke-kun?"

"None of your business," Shino interjected quietly.

With a scowl, the girl took a step forward. "I won't let you bother Sasuke-kun. Juugo, let's get rid of these guys."

"That's what I already said, bitch, if you would just listen to me," the white-haired guy muttered.

Pushing her glasses up, the girl shouted, "If you don't watch your mouth, you jackass…"

Both figures froze as a low howl emanated from their larger teammate.

"Oh shit, there he goes," moaned the first guy.

"Maybe if we stay out of his way, he'll do all the dirty work for us," the girl said hopefully.

"What the hell is that, Hinata?" Kiba asked. Akamaru had his teeth bared in a snarl.

"It-it's like Kabuto's chakra, but different," she said timidly. "It's spreading through his whole body."

"Whatever," Kiba shrugged. "Make sure to keep at least one of them alive to interrogate about Sasuke."

The white-haired guy just laughed. "Sure thing, kiddo. Bring it."

-----

"Arrrgghhh," Naruto growled in frustration. "There's no sign of anything!"

"Let's split up," Sakura suggested. "Just stay within radio range."

Sai nodded and peeled off to the left with a sickly smile.

"Right, let's go," Naruto agreed enthusiastically. "We're almost there. I know it."

-----

-----

Neji stared across the river with concern. "There's fighting going on over there," he told his team. "A few separate battles from what I can tell. All eight might be engaged considering the amount of chakra being used."

Uzuki nodded beside him. "We should hurry. It's escalating quickly," she added.

"Neji, lead us to the closest battle," Shiragawa instructed. "Leave all non-essential gear here."

"Understood," Neji replied.

Dropping his cloak over his traveling pack, he led the way across the calm river. Halfway to the other side, he could already see the two combatants in the forest near the bank.

"It's Yamato," Neji said. "His enemy seems extremely skilled, though his chakra is erratic."

"Ugh, what is that?" Uzuki said with a grimace. "It barely looks human."

"Let's go find out!" Koyama said cheerily.

-----

Kabuto halted his attack and backed a few steps away. "I don't like being outnumbered five to one," he sneered. "I have more important things to do today." With a quick hand seal, he melted into the ground.

Yamato turned around to see four ANBU figures descend from the tree tops.

"What's the situation here?" Shiragawa demanded right away. "Who was that guy?"

"We've encountered a lot more enemies than expected," Yamato replied, leaning over to catch his breath. "That was a rogue ninja called Kabuto. He's Orochimaru's right-hand man and an S-Class criminal. Kakashi-senpai told me to capture him for interrogation."

Shiragawa grunted, "That's a big fish. Where is everyone else?"

"The rest of my team is engaged southeast of here. They found three of Sasuke's new teammates. Their radio contact is sporadic, but I think they're having trouble handling them," Yamato said. "Those kids are specialized in tracking and surveillance, not one-on-one combat."

Anxiety for Hinata flared in Neji's chest. He knew this was a dangerous mission, but he had expected Team Kakashi to handle most of the actual fighting. Hinata had improved her taijutsu in the past couple years, but...

"And Kakashi-senpai?" Uzuki interjected.

"He's to the north with his team. I haven't had contact with them since Kakashi-senpai reported that he found a rogue nin from Akatsuki."

Uzuki let out a low hiss from clenched teeth.

"Alright, then" Shiragawa said grimly. "Our orders are to support this mission so that's what we will do. Koyama, go find and assist the three from Yamato's team."

"Understood," said Koyama from behind his monkey mask, and he disappeared in a puff of dust and leaves. Neji was torn between his obligation to obey his captain and his duty to protect the main house. With a grimace, he supposed Koyama was more than qualified to support Hinata's team.

"I will stay here and hunt for this Kabuto guy with Yamato," Shiragawa continued. "He sounds like he'll have a lot of important information, and capturing will be more difficult than killing. Uzuki and Hyuuga, you go assist Kakashi and his team."

"Understood," they replied together.

Heading north, Neji shot a glance at the figure running just ahead of him and wondered why Uzuki seemed more tense than usual. This was his first time seeing her prepare for battle, though. That was something personal that every individual handled differently.

Uzuki sensed something even before it came into Neji's view. "Kakashi-senpai is fighting alone northeast from here," she said with concern. "His chakra feels strange. Let's split up. You go find the other three."

"Right," Neji replied.

"Good luck, Neji-kun," Uzuki said as she veered off to the right. "Go find your kunoichi."

"Take care, onee-san," Neji replied. He could see a slight smile touch her lips behind her cat mask.

Focusing ahead, he stepped his pace up to his absolute maximum. There was something big going on there. He felt a pulse of Naruto's unique chakra and pushed himself even faster. If Naruto was that serious, he had to have found Uchiha Sasuke. Sakura would surely be there as well. He had to hurry…

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(AN) Ooookay... So I signed up for a livejournal account a while ago and never really did much with it... You guys need to stop by and show me what the hell I'm supposed to do. How do I get the fancy shmancy backgrounds and stuff? Help! ; (/AN)

AngelWing1138: LOL Sorry these updates are so short! This one was actually going to be two chaps – one of Sakura's team and one of Neji's team – but they wound up being too short to stand alone.

bubbleyum: My next chapter will answer all your questions. Mwahahahaha that was really evil of me, I know X3

Lady Light: I thought it was time to at least start _preparing_ for fluff!

Could-Careless: Thanks for keeping up with all my updates!

Mayumi Crescent Moon: Glad you like it

nejisakura: I'll try to update next week, too, but Thanksgiving might get in the way .

pixiedust8831: Oops, I had a typo! It should be 'ryou'. I have to be honest, I don't have any conversion rate for a ryou because it's an old form of Japanese currency predating the yen. I was banking on Neji's reaction giving a relative idea of how expensive the bracelet was and how much Shinji was ripping him off.

chaosdragon82: Please don't apologize! I don't want my story to become an obligation! ...I sound like Neji... Hee hee, anyway... Thanks as always for your awesome review! I put a lot of my own and my friends' experiences into this fic, but I took away the months of angst and confusion and distilled it down to the basic lesson learned. Like how much it sucks admitting that you were wrong, but how in the long run it makes things so much easier.

I'm glad you like how Sakura is developing, too. I didn't really like her character until after the timeskip, so now I'm taking her newer, stronger image and running with it. And also, I'm glad you like Uzuki. I figured that the older sibling is one relationship Neji has never had. And since his father died, he never really had much of a mentor figure, either. Gai definitely did not fill that role...

As for why Uzuki took such a liking to Neji, he reminds her of what it's like to still be young and have all the options in the world. I just realized this now that you mention it, but I kind of wrote myself into Uzuki, which is dangerous and one reason I usually don't like OC. But one of the reasons I started writing fanfiction is due to my nostalgia for when I was a teenager. I was angsty, I was hormonal, but goddamnit, I was _ALIVE_.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. I hope you liked this update. We're about to transition back into the action scenes, so I hope I can pull it off! It's been a while since I've done a fight scene!

icy-cold refreshment: It's weird, at first, all of my chapters were isolated events that could kind of stand alone, but for Reading Ahead I've been ending with suspense. I guess it's because one chapter leads to another instead of jumping around... Anyway, sorry to leave you hanging again!

oO Yukiko Oo: My POV changes were actually intentional because I wanted to show how both characters developed over the timeskip, and you wouldn't know what was going on in Neji's head unless he decided to talk about it to Sakura, and vice versa. I'm sorry you didn't like Uzuki as much. That's one of the reasons I was hesitant to write in other characters. I was worried readers would be like 'Who's that? Get back to the characters I know and love!'

Blackmusasabi: Thanks for reading through both stories and leaving a review! I'm glad that new people are still finding these fics!


	5. Chapter 5

Reading Ahead of the Lines: Chapter 5

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Neji paused half a kilometer from where Naruto stood facing his best friend and rival. The chakra surrounding the blond's body had manifested itself in two tails, and the red aura almost seemed alive. In contrast, the Uchiha was impassive as he switched his blade into a low stance. Neji watched as the confrontation escalated with the arrival of the spy from Root.

Naruto turned his snarl towards his newest teammate, and Neji read the words from his lips. "Leave this to me, Sai."

"I thought teammates help each other," the other replied with a big smile. "Should I radio Sakura and tell her where we are?"

"No," Naruto replied, shifting his eyes back to his rival. "I want to spare her the pain of fighting someone she loves."

"Very well, but I will be fighting alongside you no matter what you say," Sai said without changing his delighted expression.

Sasuke interrupted at this point, but he did not move his lips enough for Neji to make out what he was saying. He could tell it was a dismissal of some sort, however.

Another wave of chakra radiated from Naruto, but Neji was already on the move. When Sai had mentioned Sakura, Naruto's eyes had flickered briefly towards the east.

Traveling in that general direction, he pushed his eyesight to the limit. When he finally spotted her, she was standing on the edge of the cliffs overlooking the ocean with the wind whipping her short hair around her face. He tried to tell himself that his heart was beating so quickly because of the two days of hard travel, but either way, it felt like the longest kilometer he had ever run.

He jumped down to the ground a short distance from where she stood looking out over the ocean, but before he could say anything he felt a strange ripple in his chakra system. Anyone less attuned to his own body might not have noticed.

With a brief pulse in the chakra traveling to his head, the world shimmered slightly and his senses returned to normal. Sakura whipped around with a surprised look on her face.

Neji removed his mask and studied the scene. He couldn't imagine why one of their targets would want to transform into Sakura, but training forced him to be diligent.

"Wha… Neji…," she stammered. "Why… how…" Her jade green eyes were wide with genuine surprise and confusion.

Neji took a few steps in her direction but stopped abruptly when she flung a half dozen kunai at him.

Surprised, he barely got his palm up in time to deflect the weapons. It seemed he had a_lot_ of apologizing to do…

"It really must be him," she said to herself. She didn't take her eyes from his as she closed the distance between them.

Neji released his bloodline but kept his guard up in case more projectiles were called for. Stopping directly in front of him, she reached her left arm behind her back and clasped her right elbow. She looked up at him through her eyelashes, and Neji thought he might stop breathing any moment now. Even disheveled from days of travel and stressed from lack of sleep, she was so beautiful…

"Sakura, I…," he began, but she cut him off firmly.

"Neji, I want you to be honest," she said in a low voice. "Did you break up with me because you don't want to be with me or because… because of some other reason?" Her voice rose at the end of her question.

He forced his mouth to work, even though shame was telling him to keep it shut. "I thought I was doing it for your own good," he said after a moment, "but in the end, I realized I was being selfish. I couldn't stand watching you leave me, so I left before it could happen." He couldn't bring himself to meet her eyes. "I'm sorry. I ran away." Oh, that was bitter on his tongue.

"So...," she said hesitantly. "So... you didn't want to leave me?" Her attention was now focused on the circles she was drawing in the dirt with her toe.

"No," Neji admitted. "But I thought that it would be easier for you to make up your mind if I wasn't around. Look, I still think leaving the village for a while is the right decision, but I should have been more truthful with you before I left. Sakura, I..."

He was once again interrupted as she fell forward to ball her fists around the straps of his chest protector and press her face in the rough material. "I'm sorry," came her muffled voice. "I'm so sorry."

He wasn't sure what to do with this kind of reaction. He had been preparing himself for anger or rejection or a general dismissal.

"I'm sorry I hurt you like that," she cried softly. "I'm sorry you felt you had to leave."

Neji placed two fingers under her chin and tilted her face up towards him. Tears trailed down her cheeks as she tried to look away.

"You didn't do anything wrong," he told her gently. "Things change. People change. I just want you to be happy. I want you to do what's best for you."

She sniffed loudly and buried her face in his chest again. "That..." She hiccupped. "That's not it."

Neji dug into his utility pouch and withdrew the silver bracelet. "This is probably selfish of me," he told her as he unwrapped the cloth, "because it will only add to your burden, but I love you, Sakura. I had to tell you that. No matter what happens in the future, our time together was precious to me, and I don't want you to ever doubt that I loved you."

Guilt tore at his throat as she only cried harder. Was it really the best idea to be truthful with her? Maybe he should have waited longer before confessing. He had trouble clasping the silver chain around her wrist because she was clinging so tightly to his uniform.

"I'm sorry," she repeated. "I'm so sorry."

He leaned his cheek against her head for a moment longer before finally disentangling her fingers from his chest protector. "Sakura, you need to pull yourself together," he said, wiping her cheeks with his gloved thumb. "Don't forget why you're here. I should have told you right away, but Naruto and Sai have already found Sasuke." The guilt in his throat let out a beastial roar and began working its way towards his stomach.

She stiffened immediately, "Wait, Neji, I…"

He turned back the way he had come and reactivated his bloodline. "I'll take you straight to them," he said, as if that could lessen his shame for putting his own need to speak with her above her mission.

"No, Neji," she protested, grabbing his arm. She swallowed her words in surprise when he cursed loudly.

"Someone's coming," he hissed. Damnit, this woman really did scramble his brain. How could he have let his guard down like this on an S-class mission?

Sakura had frozen, too. "Who is it? Naruto? Sasuke?"

Neji felt his nerves start humming with adrenaline. "No, it's Uchiha Itachi."

He looked down at Sakura without really seeing her. His mind was furiously analyzing the situation and the possible outcomes of this encounter. Strengths, weakness, terrain, bloodlines…

He knew a lot about sharingan from Gai and his rivalry with Kakashi. For a while, Lee had become distracted from his own one-sided rivalry with Neji to court a second rivalry with Uchiha Sasuke. During this time, Gai had been a veritable fountain of information.

It took only seconds, but when he focused again on Sakura's green eyes, he knew she had come to the same conclusion. All traces of tears and confused emotions were gone from her face, replaced by hard determination. Only her puffy eyelids gave away her delicacy. Neji had thought this many times, but women were strange creatures.

"We can do this," he said, giving her a tight smile. He turned to prepare for the approaching Uchiha, but Sakura put her hand on his shoulder and forced him to face her again.

"Neji, what I was about to say was that I never intended to make you feel ignored or unwanted," she said in normal tones as if Konoha's most wanted criminal wasn't 200 meters away. "I was stupid and self-centered, and I pushed you away. I'm sorry. I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I want you to know…"

Her features softened for just a moment. "I want you to know that I love you, too."

Neji fought hard to keep his mind on the present situation, but there was nothing he could do to stop himself from pulling her tight against his chest. "I've been dreaming of those words," he whispered into her hair. Those words from those lips…

She tilted her head back to smile at him. "Neji-kun, you never had anything to worry about," she told him. "I'm sorry I…"

He cut her off by crushing his lips against hers in a rough kiss. They had only moments, and he had so much to tell her. His hands cupping her face told her that he wanted to be with her forever. His lips promised her that he would live to see her smile. His tongue said that he would love her unconditionally.

They broke apart a bit breathlessly, and Neji took the opportunity to tie his mask back into place. Itachi would recognize his fighting style right away, but that was no reason to give away the initial surprise. Besides, he needed to put something between himself and Sakura's lips.

He took several kunai from his own holster and gave them wordlessly to Sakura who tucked them away into her pouch. She withdrew her black gloves and pulled them on snuggly, flexing her fingers with anticipation.

"We have to finish this quickly," Neji said as he watched the cloaked figure approach. "Before he feels the need to use his Mangekyo sharingan."

"Right," Sakura agreed, taking her place to one side of Neji. "And so we can finish our conversation."

He wasn't sure if it was a trick of the wind coming in off the ocean, but he thought he heard her mutter something strange.

"Shannaro."

-----

Blackmusasabi: I know what you mean about not knowing what to write next. Two of my other fics are languishing because I only update them when I get inspired. And that's not very often :(

panicatthediscotime: Thanks! I thought it was time for some more action ;)

NanbeiNoHana: Hopefully this chap is fodder for you hopeless romantics! I'm glad you still think Reading Ahead is plausible because I'm definitely deviating from the manga now. I'll try to be consistent til the end, though! Shannaro!

Mayumi Crescent Moon: Whew, one a week has kept me busy, but it's been fun! Thanks for always reading!

nejisakura: I'm glad you still like this story! Thanks for always leaving a review and keeping me motivated!

AngelWing1138: LOL I should do an outtakes chapter with stuff like that...

A Cynical Person: It's no problem! I've been updating pretty quickly and I know this is a busy time of the year for everyone. Glad to hear you're done with exams!

pixiedust8831: np, I like getting questions It means people are really thinking about what I write.

Da Cute Snowbunny: I guess it wasn't really much of a cliffhanger, ne? What kind of a story would it have been if he got there and Sakura was dusting off her hands with Itachi and Sasuke tied up on the ground back to back? Actually, that would have been kind of amusing... X3


	6. Chapter 6

Reading Ahead of the Lines – Chapter 6

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(AN) I was trying to be good and update every Friday, but I'm a little late this week. I got distracted doing a short Bleach one shot X3 Anyway, I better start wrapping this story up soon because the manga might finally be getting back to Team Kakashi!! (/AN)

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Only a flicker of crimson announced the arrival of Uchiha Itachi. The rogue ninja didn't stop walking until he was a mere 20 meters away, though Sakura was sure he had noticed their presence minutes ago.

The three figures studied each other wordlessly. Itachi's scarlet eyes were barely visible beneath his straw traveling hat, and the small charm chimed sweetly in the ocean breeze.

"The kunoichi who loves my brother," Itachi finally said softly. "Why are you here and not helping your teammates capture or save or kill my little brother?"

"Because I'm here to capture or kill _you_," Sakura fired back. "I don't think saving is an option."

Itachi chuckled dryly behind the collar of his cloak. "Very true, very true, little kunoichi," he replied. "But now it is time for you to take your ANBU dog and leave. I have important business here."

As a reply, Sakura withdrew a kunai from her holster and assumed a defensive stance.

Itachi transferred his black-flecked gaze to Neji. "And this, not even an ANBU dog but a pup. You don't even have a kodachi or the seal, and you think you will beat me?"

When neither Neji nor Sakura moved, he sighed softly and withdrew one arm from its sleeve. He unzipped the front of his cloak and revealed the simple silver necklace around his neck.

Suddenly, Sakura felt something disrupt the chakra flowing through her body. With a simple hand seal, she dispelled the genjutsu. Sparing a glance at Neji, she saw that he didn't even use a hand seal to break the technique. Unlike Naruto, both she and Neji were extremely adept with their chakra. She doubted even a specialist like Kurenai would be able to capture them if they had warning.

Neji was quick to react, however. As soon as he regained his balance, he launched himself towards the cloaked figure. From the corner of his eye, he saw Sakura follow suit.

Adding an extra bounce to his usually graceful stride, he assumed an aggressive Goken stance that Lee tended to favor. His last five meters were covered with a jumping side kick.

Itachi easily sidestepped the flamboyant attack, and Neji immediately dropped into a low spin kick aimed at Itachi's ankles. As expected, three kunai whizzed over his head at Itachi, who had jumped to avoid the sweep.

In a blur of motion, Itachi drew his own kunai and deflected the incoming attack while in midair. One of the kunai ricocheted directly towards Neji, who barely rolled away in time. Sakura followed up her ranged attack with a quick flurry of punches and kicks, but it was clear that Itachi had superior speed. She only succeeded in knocking away his hat.

Before Itachi had the chance to counter, Neji engaged him again from the opposite side. It took all his concentration to keep his fists closed and his motions sharp and powerful. He was much slower and more awkward with this hard style, but he only needed a tiny opening…

Itachi gave him no such opportunity, however, and Neji realized that his gamble might cost him this fight. Just as he was about to give up the charade and switch back to his normal style, the ground erupted in chunks of rocks and debris.

Sakura stood up from where she had just pulverized the ground with her fist and made a few quick hand seals. "Doton! Doryuudan!"

A dozen spikes of earth rose from the ground and shot towards Itachi. The tips of the spears took on the appearance of snarling dragons, and barbs flared out along the shaft.

Before Sakura had even completed her hand seals, however, Itachi had already begun his own. Neji attempted to interrupt the sequence by attacking Itachi's head in an effort to make him block, but the Uchiha danced out of the way without hesitation.

"Raiton, Byakurai," Itachi said in a bored voice, and streaks of white lightning shot from his fingertips. Each earth dragon was lanced by a bolt and pinned to the ground.

His fingertips were still dancing with blue static as he continued to make hand seals. "Doton, Ooishi Ame no Jutsu," he said in the same breath.

Chunks of rock from Sakura's earthquake rose up in the air and hurled in every direction. Neji was able to dodge them easily, but Sakura stood her ground. Each boulder that came near her was shattered with her fist and sent back towards Itachi.

Neji used the noise and chaos to resume his Goken attack. After a short exchange, he decided to make one last gamble. He aimed a back spin kick at Itachi's head, and when the older man ducked to avoid the kick, Neji used the momentum from the spin to follow with a back fist.

Itachi was too far away to hit with a powerful punch, but Neji's fingers brushed across the red and black fabric just as Itachi countered with crescent kick. Neji dove forward to absorb the impact of the kick, but his attack had succeeded.

He rolled to a crouch facing the Uchiha in time to see him cough up blood to match his eyes. "So you are a Hyuuga," Itachi said, wiping the corner of his mouth. "You concealed it well."

Neji's mind began furiously re-examining the situation. This man had taken a direct attack to his heart from Neji's Juuken and showed no signs of being fatally wounded. So far, each Akatsuki member had shown some form of immortality of a sort, and Uchiha Itachi was no exception.

Sakura shot Neji a questioning glance, and he nodded in confirmation. Yes, that should have been a killing blow. He reached up and untied his mask. There was no need to hide his eyes now.

Silver met crimson as Neji assumed his more natural Juuken stance. His next option would be to attack the Uchiha's tenketsu, but he would have to get close and stay close in order for that to succeed.

Sakura watched Neji closely, and as he moved in on Itachi again, she circled in the opposite direction. This time, it appeared the two men were testing each other's speed.

She removed a small scroll from her pouch and broke the wax seal with her fingernail. She was nowhere near as proficient as Tenten, but if she could attack from behind Itachi… She rigged a quick array of kunai to one tree and then hurried in the other direction.

She briefly held the scroll over her head to show Neji what she was planning, and she trusted that he would know what she was thinking even though he showed no outward sign of acknowledgement.

Neji, meanwhile, was focused on analyzing Itachi's attacks. He was well acquainted with lightning fast opponents, but Neji realized quickly that part of the reason he could keep up with Lee's speed was because he knew what to expect from Lee.

He sidestepped to his left under the guise of dodging a particularly vicious kick, and the move put Itachi's back to Sakura. He went fully offensive, earning several scratches and close calls, but the result was that the Uchiha had minimal time to react to Sakura's trap.

A series of kunai with exploding tags briefly forced the two men apart. Neji made sure he stayed well out of the way as a small hail of various weapons simultaneously cut through the air from the opposite direction.

Sakura was still somewhat clumsy at controlling the weapons with chakra strings the way Tenten had been teaching her, but she was able to spread them out and attack from a wide angle. It all happened in less than a second, but the tiny instant where a normal shinobi would begin to react passed without any defensive move from Itachi.

Another microsecond passed, and then he moved like quicksilver. Spinning around, he threw open the front of his cloak and had three volleys of weapons in the air before Sakura even realized he was moving.

The first was a set of shuriken that severed her chakra strings. The second and third were double handfuls of kunai that intercepted and reflected her attack. With horror, she realized that his counter not only defended himself but also redirected the weapons towards Neji.

Neji had not expected such a reaction, especially given the limited reaction time. Instinctually, he dug his toes in the ground and spun into Hakkeshou Kaiten.

Sakura felt panic rising in her throat at this display of truly elite skills and abilities. How had Itachi been able to react in such a short time? And so precisely?

"You are no mere Hyuuga," Itachi commented as Neji once again assumed his stance. "Your forehead says you are not of the main house, yet your skills say otherwise." He removed his cloak to reveal a small kodachi strapped to his back. "I have always wanted to test the Sharingan against the Byakugan."

Neji cursed inwardly. He had wanted to avoid giving Itachi a reason to use his Mangekyo Sharingan. He wasn't sure if seeing Itachi's eyes with his Byakugan would be protection from the Genjutsu.

Sakura also sensed a change in the intensity of the fight and reached back into her pouch. She threw three smoke bombs towards where the two figures stood facing each other.

'Perfect,' Neji thought to himself as he closed his eyes against the acrid smoke. He had no problem fighting with his eyes closed

He found Itachi in the smoke and quickly assumed his stance for Hakke Rokujuuyon Shou. Itachi's watery eyes showed a flicker of recognition, and then Neji was attacking.

It was his absolute fastest technique, and yet he couldn't seem to get past the other man's defense. In addition, Itachi had drawn his kodachi and was using it to block and parry. Neji had no choice but to pull several of his strikes or else lose his fingers.

After all 128 strikes, Neji had only managed to hit five tenketsu. He could see that the chakra in Itachi's left hand had been blocked, but from the way the Uchiha held the ANBU blade confidently in his right, Neji wasn't sure if the handicap would be enough. This former ANBU captain had mastered that weapon when he was only a 12-year old.

The wind blowing off the ocean was quickly dispersing the smoke, and Sakura realized she would need to control the conditions of the battle even further. Making several quick seals, she said, "Suiton, Kirigakure no Jutsu."

The ocean breeze suddenly became heavy and thick with moisture as wisps and tendrils of mist began snaking into the forest. The two men were once again obscured from her vision, but she knew that Neji would still have perfect vision.

Neji quickly began another sequence of Hakke Rokujuuyon Shou as Sakura darted around the circumference of the fight. Kunai and shuriken began peppering the air from random directions. Many flew wide of their marks, but several were surprisingly on target.

Neji ducked at the very last moment as a kunai whizzed by where his head had been to land solidly in Itachi's shoulder. Several more unseen weapons embedded themselves in the Uchiha, but the rogue ninja's movements never slowed a beat.

Sakura used the sounds of fighting to orient herself in the thick mist. Itachi was at a disadvantage, but so was she. Her blind attacks were becoming more accurate as she moved closer and closer to the two invisible combatants.

Listening carefully, she could hear when a kunai continued off into the forest and when it stopped abruptly. She forced herself to be positive and trust that Neji had been able to foresee her attacks and dodge appropriately. Even still, her stomach was cold with dread that she was hindering and not helping him.

Neji was beginning to wonder how many times he could continually use his Hakke. He had never gone beyond three times before, and now he was on his fifth. Without the extra technique, however, his speed was simply not adequate to even defend. Itachi had moved the fight beyond any skill level he had ever encountered before.

Suddenly, Itachi whirled away from him and Neji saw with sickening helplessness that it was towards where Sakura knelt on the forest floor.

"Katon, Endan," Itachi said softly, planting his sword tip into the ground. He brought his fingers to his lips and released a torrent of fire towards the kunoichi. The flames didn't reach her hiding spot, but the mist between her and Itachi burned away, and she barely made it to her feet before she found herself face to face with his crimson eyes.

Her cry of surprise was cut off by the blood bubbling in her throat, but she couldn't look away from the eyes that were so much like Sasuke's.

"I give you credit, little kunoichi, for forcing me to take care of you," Itachi whispered in her ear. With a twist, he removed his blade from her right lung, and she crumpled face-first to the ground.

Neji had been caught completely off guard when Itachi switched his attack to Sakura. He had assumed that the mist and the distance would be enough protection for her. The weight of that mistake drove any semblance of discipline and rationale from his mind.

Until then, Neji had been fighting knowing that if the situation turned truly impossible, he and Sakura could always attempt to flee. Itachi's life was not worth losing their's. Now, however, as he stared at the blood puddling too quickly around Sakura's pink hair, he decided that all three of them would die there this day.

Something tickled Neji's brain as Itachi turned and pointed his kodachi towards him. Flecks of Sakura's blood spattered from the blade onto Neji's face, and the rage once again surged through his veins.

He felt as though his thoughts were swimming through a blood-red haze. He had the pieces, but they weren't clicking together.

"And now for you, ANBU pup," Itachi said, focusing on Neji. With a sense of resignation, Neji watched the black tomoe of the Sharingan swirl and merge into one design. "I applaud you for forcing me to this end. I did not think you were worthy of the exertion at first," he told Neji.

"But now, it's ov…" Itachi did not finish his sentence as his eyes widened in surprise. His body lurched forward and would have gone flying if not for the fist protruding from his abdomen. It seemed to Neji that the blood and intestinal fluid dripped in slow motion from a delicate silver bracelet.

Then the world snapped back into real time. With his spinal cord shattered, Itachi fell to his knees when Sakura withdrew her forearm. Concerned that even this would kill someone from Akatsuki, Neji moved quickly to place his hand over Itachi's shocked eyes.

"It's over," Neji finished for him. Itachi's head didn't move an inch, but blood poured out from under Neji's hand and down his cheeks. The Uchiha let out a small gasp and fell over sideways on the ground.

Without wasting a moment, Sakura pulled a syringe from her pouch, flicked off the cap, and jabbed the needle roughly into Itachi's neck. When she was done injecting the green fluid, she looked up and met Neji's eyes with a shaky smile. "That's enough sedative to knock out an elephant," she said weakly.

"Sakura…," he said hoarsely. Releasing his Byakugan, he stepped over the destroyed body and squatted down to gingerly inspect the slash in Sakura's shirt. There was an angry red line puckering the smooth skin just at the top of her right breast, but no open wound. "But there was so much blood," he said. "And you made no hand seals."

"I made them before he attacked me," she said, running her hands deftly over the multitude of cuts and bruises covering Neji's body. "Didn't you notice that I was using a lot of chakra right when he stabbed me? I was worried he would see me make hand seals, but I knew he wouldn't be able to see any jutsu I started while still out of sight."

The pieces finally clicked in Neji's head. He had sensed something was strange when the amount of blood flowing from Sakura didn't correspond to the amount of chakra still flowing through her body. It had dimmed from the injury, but not as much as it should have.

"It's a technique that Tsunade-shihou learned when fighting Kabuto," Sakura continued as she inspected a cut near Neji's temple. "I accelerated the growth of the cells in my lungs and torso ahead of time and began making new tissue and blood in preparation for the attack. I began healing immediately."

Finally convinced that none of Neji's injuries were serious, she tuned back towards the fallen Uchiha. "It was a good thing I was able to stand in time to take his attack in the chest, though."

'What an understatement,' Neji thought to himself as he walked over to the discarded red and black cloak. He took out a kunai and started ripping strips of fabric from the hem.

"Let's bind his arms and legs," he told Sakura, who was cauterizing the hole in Itachi's abdomen with a fire-based medical jutsu. "Who knows what other strange abilities these Akatsuki have."

"Sounds good, Neji," she replied without looking up. "It's going to be difficult keeping him alive enough to talk but subdued enough to handle."

A shuffling noise caught both of their attentions, and Neji looked up to see a pair of crimson eyes that matched the ones he had just destroyed.

"What the hell happened here?" the newcomer demanded.

Sakura's mouth went dry and her mouth moved without making any sound. Finally, she choked out, "Sasuke-kun."

-----

Goddess Psyche: Glad you liked it n.n

KunoichiruleALL: Hope they kicked it sufficiently for you XP

Wild Dog- untamed cainine: Will do – I promise ;)

Da Cute Snowbunny: Sasuke was on his way to meet Itachi when all hell broke loose in this forest. Too bad Neji and Sakura got there first!

NanbeiNoHana: I'm flattered you liked it so much I hope the rest of this spin-off fic remains plausible, too.

pixiedust8831: Sorry for the cliffhanger! I'll try to wrap this fic up quickly because it looks like the manga might finally be shifting back to Team Kakashi.

nejisakura: Thanks for always checking out my updates and stopping to say hi!

animevivverz: We needed some good NejiSaku time, ne? This chapter wasn't exactly romantic… but there will be more!

Mayumi Crescent Moon: The reason I made this a separate fic is because I plan on continuing to update Reading Between to follow the manga. It will have a different ending, so there's no way the two stories can be combined. Sorry! I know it's kind of confusing. But already we see Team Kakashi and Team Hebi deviating from Reading Ahead.

AngelWing1138: ROFL Hope they beat enough crap out of him for you X3 Also, absolutely wonderful Monty Python reference XD

chaosdragon82: The part about someone transforming into Sakura is about Henge no Jutsu. Anyone can transform to look like anyone else, but how can you tell if it's the real person? Sakura threw some kunai at Neji, and he responded in a way only a Hyuuga could. After thinking about it for a while, I decided that Neji probably wouldn't be straight up stronger than Itachi given that Itachi is more experienced and most Akatsuki seem to have 9 lives. Also, I really wanted to show incredible teamwork between Neji and Sakura. Something that Sakura never showed much of with Team 7. I hope you liked it anyway It's been a while since I've done a fight scene.

Jemiul: It's always nice to see an old name and know that people are still reading my fic. Thanks!

A Cynical Person: Not quite as touching as my last chapter, but hopefully it lived up to expectations

Chire: Sorry for the cliffhangers! Sorry I did it again this week! After this, they won't be quite as bad, I promise!

PetitDejeuner: Thanks for coming to check out this side-sequel! I'm really flattered that you like these stories because I really admire and respect your writing, too.

icy-cold refreshment: Isn't she? I'm making myself jealous XP

TouchofPixieDust: Nothing ruins the moment like an S-Class criminal, ne?


	7. Chapter 7

Reading Ahead of the Lines - Chapter 7

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Neji's whole body tensed as Uchiha Sasuke appeared out of the forest on the other side of Sakura. Damnit, how many times was he going to get caught by surprise today? The intensity of Sasuke's fight with Naruto and Sai was written across his body in blood and bruises, and his clothing was in ruins.

With her back to him, Neji couldn't see Sakura's face, but her voice wavered when she spoke. "Sasuke-kun."

The younger Uchiha stared wordlessly at the unconscious body of his brother now lying face up on the ground. Blood streaked down Itachi's face, matted in his hair, and covered his entire torso. Sakura was likewise smeared in blood and gore.

Neji had only a split second warning when Sasuke's crimson eyes flickered to where Sakura knelt beside Itachi.

Sakura's eyes widened as Sasuke charged straight for her. He drew his shirasaya in one smooth motion and swung the blade towards her neck. She knew she should duck or roll away or block with a kunai, but her body felt paralyzed under Sasuke's red-eyed glare.

Suddenly, the spell was broken as Neji appeared between the two former teammates. His left hand was clasped firmly around the forearm holding the sword, and two fingers of his right hand pressed into the pale skin of Sasuke's neck.

"Is that any way to greet an old friend?" Neji growled angrily.

"We were never friends," Sasuke replied coldly.

Sakura, who was still kneeling on the ground, wilted at the statement and looked down at the blood drying on her hands.

"Bonds like that can never be broken no matter how much you deny them," Neji replied just as evenly. "And that's the only reason you're not on the ground with your brother."

At the mention of Itachi, Sasuke's eyes narrowed with rage. Neji saw the chakra accumulating throughout his body and quickly placed his right hand against Sasuke's bare chest. Just as the electricity began forming around Sasuke's body, he was launched backwards by Neji's Hakke Kuushou.

Sasuke caught his landing, but it was obvious he was tired and weary. Neji's nerves were starting to hum again as he waited for the Uchiha to make the next move. He was so focused on his new opponent that he nearly jumped when a blood-soaked glove touched his outstretched arm.

"Neji-kun, wait," Sakura said, looking up at him with sad, green eyes. "Sasuke-kun's not thinking rationally right now." He studied her face for a moment before lowering his arm.

Turning towards Sasuke, the hand on Neji's arm trembled slightly. "Sasuke-kun, where's Naruto? Where's Sai?"

The Uchiha stood with his head down and didn't respond. "Where's Naruto?" Sakura asked again.

Finally, Sasuke raised his head and looked at them with coal black eyes. "Why? Why do you two still care about me? I turned my back on you. I cut you from my life. _So why are you both still here?!_" His voice was shaky as he pointed his sword at her.

Neji tensed for another attack, but Sakura squeezed his arm reassuringly. He looked down at her again, and the quick smile she gave him reminded him that they were in control of this situation. They might as well try to talk to him first.

"Because we want to help you, Sasuke-kun," Sakura replied earnestly.

"_But why?!_" Sasuke shouted back. "Why do you want to help a worthless person like me who doesn't even _want_ your help?!"

He opened his mouth to shout again, but a slight movement near Sakura's feet caught everyone's attention. Itachi's fingers twitched again, and then his hand clenched into a fist.

Sakura frowned and withdrew another syringe of sedative. "Neji, I might need you to shut down his chakra system altogether," she said worriedly.

Itachi's mouth opened, but he only succeeded in producing a gurgling noise. He convusively swallowed the blood in his throat and spoke again. "Sasuke?" he whispered hoarsely. "Is that Sasuke?"

Neji and Sakura had another silent conversation before backing away slightly from the fallen Uchiha. "It's me, Itachi," Sasuke replied. He changed his grip on his sword as he approached his brother's body.

"I have taken everything from you, little brother," Itachi rasped. "And left you only hate and revenge."

"You have," Sasuke replied. He raised his blade and held the tip above Itachi's eyeless head.

"Then let me take one last thing from you, little brother," Itachi said. The three younger shinobi waited for him to continue, but instead, his head rolled to one side, and his hand fell motionless to the ground.

"No," Sasuke whispered. "No." His arm fell slack to his side, and his sword slipped from loose fingers.

Sakura rushed over to the body and felt for a pulse. She had been sure his condition had been stable, if severe. Neji also watched with surprise as the life in the body dimmed to nothing.

Then he spotted it. "His ring," Neji said out loud. The red stone on Itachi's finger had been flipped open to reveal a small compartment inside.

"There's a needle here," Sakura said, gingerly taking Itachi's limp hand and inspecting the ring. "It looks like he pricked his thumb on it."

"Poison?" Neji asked. He knew he should have bound Itachi right away.

"I don't think so…," Sakura said uncertainly. "There's no trace of any chemical."

Sasuke mumbled something under his breath, and both Neji and Sakura turned their attention to him.

"What was that, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked in a kind voice.

"_Get away from him!!_" Sasuke shouted. His eyes were glazed again, and Neji tugged Sakura to her feet by her elbow.

The last Uchiha made no move to attack, however. He stooped down to pick up Itachi the way a man might carry his bride. With stumbling steps, he carried his burden towards the opening in the forest where the sky met the sea.

"Sasuke-kun? Why don't we take the body back to the others?" Sakura suggested gently. She and Neji exchanged puzzled glances when he didn't respond.

"If you tell me to, I will stop him," Neji whispered in her ear.

"Not yet," she whispered back. "It will only make him aggressive again."

They followed the dazed Uchiha to where the cliffs fell 500 meters to the crashing water below. Finally, Sasuke looked over his shoulder and spoke, "Sakura, please tell Naruto I'm sorry."

Realization hit Sakura like a brick, and she dashed towards her childhood crush. "No! Sasuke-kun!"

With a sad smile, Sasuke stepped off the edge of the cliff.

Sakura didn't hesitate a beat and dove head first after him into the open air.

"Shit, Sakura!" Neji cursed. He looked over the lip of rock at the three figures free falling towards the ocean. Sasuke had his arms outstretched, and he held Itachi's lifeless hand in his as if they were walking down the street together.

Sakura kept her body in a tight nosedive and managed to make up some of the distance between her and the two brothers. She began carefully making hand seals and prayed that her timing and control would be good enough.

"Suiton, Suiryuudan no Jutsu," she said as she passed the halfway mark to the ocean below.

Two dragons made of water rose from the crashing waves and rushed towards the falling shinobi. Matching the speed of their free fall, the dragons gently enveloped the three bodies in water and began slowing their descent. By the time they reached the heaving water below, it was like jumping into a swimming hole back in Konoha.

Sasuke's head broke the water half a second before Sakura. "Why?!" he screamed over the waves breaking against the base of the cliffs. "Why do you keep interfering?" Why do you care?!"

Neji arrived at the bottom of the cliff after having sprinted down the sheer face. Carefully, he stepped out onto the undulating water.

"Because Naruto needs you," Sakura shouted at Sasuke. "_We_ need you."

"_But WHY?!_" he was still clinging to his brother's body, and the tears on his face were mingling with the spray of salt water. The freezing cold plunge must have brought him back to his senses because his obsidian eyes were clear and focused now.

"Because you were the first person Naruto and I ever loved," she told him simply. "And we want to save you."

Neji held out his hand, and Sakura let him pull her to the surface. She wobbled on the water for a moment before regaining her equilibrium, and Neji slipped his arm around her waist to steady her. That last ninjutsu had used up most of her remaining chakra.

"You can't save me," Sasuke said sullenly.

Sakura gave Neji a grateful smile, and they walked over to where Sasuke was floating in the water. Sakura put her hand on Sasuke's arm and loosened his hold on Itachi. When it was obvious that Sasuke wasn't going to resist, Neji hauled the body out of the water.

"Do you have enough chakra to walk back up?" he asked Sakura.

"I think so," she told him. "I need to get off this moving water, though."

Neji rode one of the waves over to the cliff and stepped back onto the slick rock. He positioned Itachi awkwardly over one shoulder and held out his hand.

Sakura studied the water for a moment before likewise surfing over to the cliff. "That would be fun if I wasn't so damned tired," she said with a small smile as she took his hand.

"Is it alright to leave him there?" Neji asked as she joined him standing on the side of the cliff face.

"He needs some time alone right now," Sakura said, looking over her shoulder at the dark head bobbing in the water. "But I think he will make the right choice."

With a sigh, she began trudging up the cliff towards the top. "For now, I just want to find Naruto and Sai and get in touch with the rest of the team."

-----

AngelWing1138: ROFL Actually, I like the after-time-skip Sasuke a lot more than the before-time-skip Sasuke, but he's still a jackarse either way…

Da Cute Snowbunny: Yeah, I didn't pull any punches (literally) while finishing off Itachi. I figure, there's no clean way to kill Akatsuki. And I don't fully understand the details of healing jutsu, but Sakura didn't use the jutsu Tsunade uses, which decreases life span. She used the one Kabuto used, and Kishimoto didn't say if that affected your life span one way or the other.

miss neji: Glad you liked it!

The Galaxia Chronicler: At least I don't keep you guys waiting long, right? Thanks for checking out this fic!

Lady Light: Ooh, I'm glad you thought it was unexpected! Sometimes it's hard to get perspective on your own writing when the story has been rolling around in your head for a while. Also, with the overwhelming amount of fiction on this site, it's hard to know if you're being original or just using a cliché that's been done many times before.

KunoichiruleALL: Glad to be of service XD Thanks for keeping up with my fic :)

TouchofPixieDust: I'm glad you liked last chapter – I read it over and over and over before posting. Hope you liked Sasuke's reaction X3

cocoapuffaddict: Ye of little faith! There was no _way_ Sasuke was gonna have the satisfaction of killing Itachi!

animevivverz: Nothing says Drama like Uchiha Sasuke ;)

bubbleyum: Mad… and slightly psychotic ;)

nejisakura: And the updates continue! I might pick up the pace even more because the manga might _finally_ be getting interesting!!

A Cynical Person: Heheh, that was probably my worst cliffhanger yet, ne? I'm sooo glad you liked the fight scene. The more and more I thought about it, the more I realized they were the perfect people to take down Itachi – genjutsu resistance, speed, and good teamwork.

chaosdragon82: Hugs, I'm glad you liked the fight scene! I really wanted to show how well they worked together and how talented they've become. I figured at the beginning of this chapter, everyone was pretty tired and worn out, but Neji and Sakura would still have the upper hand.

Jemiul: Thanks for keeping up with the updates! I'm glad you're enjoying this fic!

pixiedust8831: LOL I'm glad I had you faked out for a little bit X3. In my head, I _know_ what's going to happen so I can't surprise myself, so it's hard to get a good perspective of what other people are thinking when they read it.

Mayumi Crescent Moon: No arse kicking needed, Sasuke is self-destructive enough to do it himself XD

icy-cold refreshment: Sakura might still have a few hang-ups about Sasuke, but the obsession is over (thank goodness). Hope you enjoyed this chap :)


	8. Chapter 8

Reading Ahead of the Lines - Chapter 8

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A third of the way back up the cliff, Neji pointed out an opening a short distance away. "There's some sort of hideout over there," he told her. "I wonder what it was used for."

"Is there any food or dry clothing?" Sakura asked.

Neji studied the interior for a moment before shaking his head. "Nothing. I don't think it's been occupied for a long time."

"Then I don't care," Sakura sighed.

They reached the lip of the cliff, and Neji helped her around the corner. Still shouldering Itachi's body, he led the way towards where he had last seen Naruto and Sai. Sakura followed doggedly.

"I'm sorry I'm slowing us down," she panted. "The healing technique I used is at the limit of my abilities, and I'm not very skilled at it yet. Maybe you should go on ahead."

Neji gave her a look from the corner of his eye and snorted. "Not very skilled? I don't know a whole lot of people who can have a sword lodged in their lung and then mope about how tired it left them feeling."

She gave him a weak smile, and he brushed his fingers along her cheek before facing forward again. "Yet again, you've managed to completely amaze me."

She blushed at his compliment and tried to think of something to say.

"Good news," Neji said abruptly, saving her from her flustering. "Naruto and Sai are up ahead. They don't look too injured, either."

"Oh thank goodness," Sakura breathed with relief.

A few minutes later, she finally spotted the two figures lying on the ground in the middle of a large area of fallen trees. As she rushed to kneel beside Naruto, the blond emitted a loud snore and rolled over on his back.

"Is he… _sleeping_?" Sakura asked incredulously. There was a gash across his thigh, and his jacket had several holes burnt into it, but overall he seemed in relatively good condition.

Neji looked up from where he knelt beside Sai, who was still face down in the dirt. "This one, too."

Sakura threw her head back and laughed. Grabbing Naruto by the shoulders she shook him hard. "Oi, wake up!" she grinned. Her amusement faded quickly, however, when her teammate's head lolled backwards, and the snores continued uninterrupted.

"There's something strange...," Neji began. He trailed off thoughtfully while staring at Sai's head. Sakura likewise released Naruto and began examining him more closely.

"Is it a blockage?" Sakura asked after a moment.

"No, it's almost like a filter or some sort," Neji replied. "There, at the base of the brain. It looks like it somehow alters the chakra that flows through it."

"Is it a genjutsu?" Sakura asked, but Neji didn't reply. He had his eyelids closed, but she could tell he was studying Sai.

She placed her hand on the back of Naruto's neck and used tendrils of chakra to probe his nervous system. It felt like something was suppressing the electric signals running to and from his brain. Actually, it was more like_altering_ the signals. Concentrating the last of her chakra into her hand, she inserted it into Naruto's head and broke apart the filter.

"Got it," she said at the same time as Neji. They looked up at each other in surprise, and Sakura burst out laughing again. Neji added a small chuckle himself.

Naruto sat up with a jolt at the noise, and Sai tried to push himself upright with a groan.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto said with surprise. "Where are we? When did you get here? What happened? Where's Sasuke?"

"Slow down, Naruto," Sakura said as she patted him on the shoulder.

"What happened to_him_," Sai asked, eyeing up Itachi's body where Neji had left it on the ground.

"Holy hell, is that Itachi?" Naruto blurted. The body was in truly terrible condition, and the eyelids were partially open to reveal their emptiness, but the scratched hitai-ate limited the number of people it could possibly be.

"I'll explain in a minute, but I need to use one of your radios. Mine got busted," Sakura said, pulling at the wires clipped to Naruto's jacket.

"But Sasuke… where's Sasuke…?" Naruto continued as if he didn't hear her.

"Hag, take mine. I think it still works," Sai interjected, and Sakura gratefully accepted the transmitter.

She fiddled with the dial before speaking into the microphone. "Is anyone listening?" she asked. "Hello?"

She was still listening intently to the static when Neji spoke up, "Here comes four of Kakashi's dogs."

A minute later, four eclectic nin-dogs emerged from the forest and stopped to sniff the air. The one with a mohawk padded over to Sakura. "Good you're all together. Kakashi wants you to regroup, so follow me," he said before trotting back into the forest.

Sakura exhaled another sigh. "At least that means Kakashi-sensei is alright," she said with relief. Neji picked up Itachi's body once more, and Naruto and Sai stiffly got to their feet.

Sakura quickly fell behind as they followed the nin-dogs through the forest, but Neji stayed beside her with his free hand resting lightly on her lower back.

"Oi, are you okay, Sakura-chan?" Naruto called back to her.

"I'm just out of chakra," Sakura hollered back. "Not that he has any idea what that's like," she said under her breath with a slight touch of exasperation.

Neji just smirked. "You've been… busy. That's all," he told her.

"Busy indeed," she agreed.

Sakura could smell the others long before they came into sight. From the strange aroma, it seemed they were cooking dinner over a campfire and something nasty fell in by accident.

"Everyone's there," Neji reassured her. "Hinata-sama is alright, too." There was definite relief in his voice.

Digging deep, Sakura sped up her pace for the last couple hundred meters. They arrived in a large grassy clearing with a roaring bonfire lit in the center. Naruto and Sai were already talking to Yamato, and everyone else was either busy or incapacitated.

Hinata was hunched over Kiba, who was lying on the ground unconscious. Akamaru whined softly as his gaze shifted from Kiba to Hinata and back again. A young man she had never met was wrapping bandages around an older man's arm and shoulder, and Shino was sitting on the ground in a dense cloud of kikaichu. Two other strangers were bound and motionless near the fire.

When Kakashi saw Sakura and Neji arrive, he pushed himself to his feet despite the protests of the familiar-looking woman who was wrapping bandages around a gash in his leg. "Thank goodness you're alright," the silver-haired Jounin said seriously as he limped over to stand in front of them. "Those four were the only ones left who could fight, so I sent them to find you." With a nod, the nin-dogs disappeared in puffs of smoke.

"Neji-kun, is that who I think it is?" the woman asked as she came over to stand beside Kakashi. It was obvious by their uniform that this woman and the other two men were part of Neji's ANBU squad, but she had to wonder why this woman was so familiar with him.

"It is," Neji said, leaning down to roll Itachi's body onto the ground. "I'm sorry, but we weren't able to keep him alive."

"It's okay," Kakashi said with a sigh, "We decided to ash his partner rather than take the risk of capturing." With a jerk of his thumb, he directed their attention to the fire, and Sakura dry-heaved when she realized the mouth-watering smell of fish cooking was really Hoshigaki Kisame.

A small voice interrupted their conversation. "Sa-Sakura-chan, I need your help," Hinata called across the clearing. "It's Kiba-kun. I-I don't know what else to do." Her voice was even more tremulous than normal, and she sounded on the verge of breaking down.

"We'll take care of this," the woman said grimly, gesturing at the body.

Leaving Itachi with Kakashi and the woman, Neji and Sakura hurried over to where Akamaru had rested his head on Kiba's motionless legs. He let out a low whimper as Sakura knelt opposite of Hinata.

"I-I think he's bleeding internally," Hinata fretted, "But nothing I do has any effect." Tears of frustration made her silver eyes seem even larger. Her blood-spattered sweatshirt was balled under Kiba's head, and she was sweating despite only wearing a sleeveless undershirt.

Sakura held her hand out over Kiba's torso, but Neji knew right away that she was already too drained. The glow of chakra around her palm pulsed feebly before fading altogether. She made an irritated noise in her throat and instead took Hinata's trembling hands in her own.

"Hinata, listen to me. I'm going to tell you what you have to do," she told her. The dark-haired girl opened her mouth to protest, but Sakura cut her off firmly. "I know you can do this. Take a deep breath, and follow my instructions."

Hinata wiped the tears from her cheek and nodded. "Now explain to me what you know so far," Sakura directed.

Koyama came over to stand beside Neji, and together they watched the two medics at work. "You're cousin is quite the little kunoichi," he said, nudging Neji in the ribs. "When I arrived on the scene, that Kiba kid was already down, and your cousin was in the process of taking out the big guy who had done it. "

Neji couldn't hide his surprise, and Koyama clapped him on the back. "It's true, it's true, Hyuuga. She shut down his entire chakra system and then knocked him out cold with one finger."

There was no stopping his jaw from hitting his chest. Before he could ask Koyama for more details, Sakura called him over. "Neji, I need you to look at something for me."

It took nearly an hour, but finally Kiba was in stable condition. The final diagnosis was that the kunoichi they had been fighting had injected some sort of chemical into Kiba's chest that prevented the proteins in his cell membranes from functioning properly. As a result, the cells hadn't responded to Hinata's healing. Once they identified and isolated this strange poison, the rest was standard procedure.

With one last full-body check by Neji, Sakura sat back on her heels and let out a tremendous sigh. She smiled as Neji put his hand on Hinata's head and ruffled her hair slightly. "Incredible job, Hinata-sama. Hiashi-sama will be very proud to hear of your accomplishments this mission."

Hinata blushed furiously and stammered, "Th-thank you, Neji-nii-san." Akamaru nudged Neji out of the way with his nose and started energetically licking Hinata's face. "Gack, Akamaru!" she squealed.

Sakura fell back on her butt in an effort to avoid the giant dog's wagging tail. "Is Shino alright?" she asked Hinata.

Hinata fended off Akamaru's affections and nodded at her. "His kikaichu are able to heal him," she said, glancing towards the nearly solid cloud of bugs swarming around her teammate.

Sakura shuddered at the thought, but made a note to investigate it later. Healing was healing, after all, and she still had much to learn.

Neji offered his hand to help Sakura stand up, and she staggered over to where a proper campfire had been started. The sky was already blazing red and orange, and in the aftermath of her adrenaline rushes, Sakura's stomach was threatening to eat itself.

The ANBU kunoichi offered them each a bowl of some sort of stew, and Sakura was extremely thankful that is was chicken-stock broth. "Good timing," she told them, flipping her blue-black hair over her shoulder. "We were just going to brief each other on what happened after we split up."

After hearing about everyone's battles, Sakura was amazed and relieved that they had sustained as few injuries as they did. Yamato and the older ANBU man, Shiragawa, had tried to capture Kabuto, but he had proven himself as slippery as his former master. They exchanged a few injuries, but nothing serious on either side.

Koyama had arrived to aid Yamato's team just in time. The kunoichi from Sasuke's team had managed to hit Kiba with a few of her needles, and the big guy had knocked him out. Glancing at Kakashi and the other Jounin, he mentioned that the guy had Orochimaru's cursed seal. Somehow, Shiragawa's scowl deepened even more.

Koyama continued his story with how he had arrived just as Hinata took out the big guy, and everyone turned to applaud the shy kunoichi where she sat resting her head on Akamaru's back. Her face turned especially crimson when Naruto announced that he always knew that Hinata's hard work would pay off.

With two against three, plus an enraged Akamaru, the rest of the fight hadn't taken too long. One of Sasuke's teammates was killed and the other two were taken captive and sedated.

With a start, Sakura realized that one of the two giant swords next to the still-raging bonfire was familiar. She had seen it years ago in Wave Country in the hands of a missing-nin. It was funny how life brought things full-circle sometimes. The other enormous weapon was also one of the seven greatswords.

Kakashi had been having trouble with the missing-nin from Kiri until the ANBU kunoichi, Uzuki, had arrived. Kisame's sword, which now gleamed benignly in the firelight, had the ability to steal chakra. Fortunately, Uzuki had been able to nullify its effectiveness, and Kakashi had gained the upper hand with his Kuchiyose. The dogs had a natural affinity to earth, which proved to be a stronger factor than Kisame's insane amount of chakra.

Next, Naruto was eager to tell his part of the story, though it ended anti-climatically with Sasuke knocking him and Sai out cold. Sai interjected at this point to say that he believed that Sasuke had used some unknown genjutsu with his Mangekyo Sharingan, though he wasn't able to discern what it was. Kakashi just nodded when he heard this, as if he had expected it all along.

Neji and Sakura picked up the narrative at this point to explain how they found Naruto and Sai sleeping, but then had to backtrack to when they first encountered Uchiha Itachi. Conveniently leaving out the events _before_ the fight with Itachi, Neji told most of the story. Sakura's eyes kept straying back to the roaring flames that obscured the ashes of Sasuke's brother.

Dragging her attention back to their own cozier campfire, she caught the last part about how Neji destroyed Itachi's eyes in order to safely take him as a captive. He stopped at this point and turned his attention to her, and she realized with a start that he was leaving it to her to decide how much they should reveal about Sasuke. She decided on a simplified version – that Sasuke had stumbled upon them after Itachi had killed himself, and then the last of the Uchiha had disappeared back into the forest.

Kakashi frowned, and Shiragawa voiced his opinion, "We'll need to keep a tight watch, then, in case he tries to rescue his teammates." The older man gestured vaguely at the two captives bound and trussed like pigs.

Kakashi nodded in agreement. "There's no point trying to hide our location," he said, glancing at the funeral pyre that threatened to burn down the forest. "But we all need sleep. We'll rotate in shifts of four – three scouting and one watching the two prisoners. Yamato, Naruto, Sai, and myself will take the first shift."

Sakura silently thanked her silver-haired sensei and stood up from her seat around the fire. Even through the night was still young, she was exhausted. Right now, there was only one thing she wanted more than sleep.

"Kakashi-sensei, is it alright if I go back to the river to wash up?" she asked. The salt from her brief excursion into the ocean was making her clothing stiff.

Kakashi glanced over her head before focusing a tired eye on her and nodding consent. She turned around to see Neji already walking west towards the river. "Shiragawa-taichou, I'll collect our supply bags," he said to the older man, who just grunted in reply.

Together, she and Neji silently left the camp, where Uzuki was loudly scolding Kakashi for not resting himself. After a short while, the dark canopy opened up to show the first stars of the night. A herd of small spotted deer darted away as the two figures emerged from the forest and headed for the dark water.

Luckily, on this side of the river, the current was slow and gentle, and Sakura made a beeline straight for the sandy bank. Her pouch was discarded first, followed quickly by her kunai holster, her hitai-ate, and her sandals and leg guards.

"I'll be right back," Neji told her. "Our packs are just on the other side."

Sakura plunged head first into the cold, refreshing water and reemerged with a contented sigh and a lot of splashing. "I'll be right here," she said, floating onto her back.

In the last afterglow of sunset, she picked the dried blood from her fingernails and combed the clumps out of her hair with her fingers. She had just given up on rubbing the bloodstains from her clothes when Neji returned. He must have taken the time to bathe also because his hair was wet but his clothes were clean and dry. Three packs were slung over his arm in addition to the one on his back.

"I have an extra set of clothing," he said, walking over to where she was still floating. "It'll be a bit big on you, but at least you won't catch a cold."

"I didn't even think of that," she said as she sloshed back to shore. "Thanks!"

She tied her wet hair up into a bun while Neji set the packs on the ground. He pulled out a long-sleeve tunic and handed it to the sopping wet kunoichi. She took the dry garments and said, "Turn around for a minute?"

Neji just smirked and did as he was told. Sakura had unbuckled her skirt and had her shirt halfway unzipped before she realized what she was doing. "Wait! Turn back around," she said.

Neji peeked over his shoulder before turning back to face her. Crossing his arms he asked, "Does this mean I get a show?"

Her reply was a cold, wet skirt aimed at his face. "No, it means I know you can see me with your back turned. So close your eyes, and I don't want to see a _hint_ of your Byakugan." Her cheeks were getting warmer and warmer despite the fact that the rest of her was shivering.

Neji just caught the skirt and closed his eyes with a deep chuckle. Sakura hurriedly turned her back to him and pulled off her shorts and top and slipped into the shirt, which fell to her knees. She was still damp from the bath, and a convulsive shiver nearly knocked her off her feet.

She jumped when two hands started briskly rubbing her arms and shoulders. "We should head back before you catch a cold," he said in her ear.

"Hey, I didn't tell you to turn…," she trailed off as he kissed her neck and licked a drop of water from her earlobe. He must have had soap in that pack because he smelled clean like pine needles and juniper.

After two frantic days of chasing trails followed by a near-death experience, Sakura felt the tension in her body finally drain away. She sagged backwards against his lean frame and let him support her weight. His arms wrapped around her waist reminded her of everything that had happened before this mission began less than 48 hours ago.

She leaned her head back on his shoulder and looked up at him. "Can we just stay like this… for a little while?"

His response was to nuzzle his face against her neck and pull her tighter against his body.

"Neji…," she began. "What I said earlier. I really meant it."

"I did, too," he whispered. "I…"

He was cut off by an echoing yell from the forest. "Saaaaaakuuuuuuraaaaa-chaaaaan!"

She cursed incomprehensibly and turned around to give Neji a light kiss before moving to put her sandals back on.

Neji felt a bit like cursing, too, and began collecting her scattered belongings. Pouch, weapons, gloves…

Sakura was already walking towards the trees hollering, "Damnit Naruto, just wake the whole forest!"

"Sorry, Sakura-chan," Naruto said as he dropped to the ground nearby. "I can't see a thing out here. What are you wearing?"

"Is something wrong?" Neji asked, walking up behind Sakura with his arms loaded once again.

"No," Naruto said, suddenly serious. "I just wanted to ask you what really happened today."

"Let's head back to camp while I tell you," she said softly. Neji could hear the strain in her voice as she retold the entire encounter with their former teammate. And for once, Naruto was surprisingly quiet and attentive.

Once she reached the end, he finally spoke up. "You just _left_ him there?" he asked incredulously. "The whole point of this mission was to bring him home!"

"Naruto," Sakura said tiredly, "We can't _make_ him live the life we want him to live. We can't _make_ him return happily to Konoha. What we_ can_ do is show him that that is the best decision for him to make."

She patted her friend reassuringly on the back. "Have faith in him," she said. "He'll make the right choice."

Suddenly, Neji spoke up from behind them, "Something's coming."

They both whirled around, but there was nothing but darkness. "It looks like it might be a slug. One of Tsunade-sama's?" he added.

A moment later, a burst of white streaked into sight. "Kioko-chan?" Sakura said with surprise when the knee-high slug screeched to a halt in front of them.

"I didn't know slugs could move so fast," Naruto said disbelievingly.

"Kioko-chan is the fastest messenger Tsunade-shishou has," Sakura told them. Frowning, she bowed slightly to the slug before untying the two scrolls from its back.

"Sakura-chan, you need to hurry home," Kioko squeaked in a high-pitched voice. "Tsunade-sama was very upset."

"Right," Sakura said. "Let me just read this and give you a reply."

"Tsunade-sama said not to bother with a reply," Kioko said worriedly. "Just hurry. Hurry!"

The slug disappeared in a puff of smoke, but Sakura didn't even glance up from the scroll she was reading. "We have to go. NOW," she said, turning on her heel and sprinting back towards the thin column of smoke rising from the trees.

------------

AngelWing1138: LOL As for Sasuke, you gotta hit rock bottom before you can start heading back up, ne?

Chire: I like Itachi, but he had to go ;)

Da Cute Snowbunny: I forget what movie this is from, but as for Sasuke, "He's not right in tha head."

Mayumi Crescent Moon: Glad you still like it :)

The Galaxia Chronicler: Man, this fic is full of cliffhangers. But I have to stop somewhere, right? XP

Could-Careless: Yes, they patched up their miscommunication, and all is well on that front. I've never heard of block fanfiction, so thanks for bringing it to my attention! I've been having trouble deciding what to call this fic!

nejisakura: All is well with Naruto and Sai :)

KunoichiruleALL: I keep trying to get back to the NejiSakuness, but people keep getting in the way! Argh!!

bubbeyum: Not quite dead yet!

Jemiul: Glad you liked Sasuke ;P I wanted to make him emo, but not TOO emo.

sequha: Glad to see you caught up!

icy-cold refreshment: Definitely compassion! I thought long and hard about what the _worst_ thing Itachi could do to Sasuke, and I decided it was to take away his revenge.

stardaze: That I can promise not to do.

pixiedust8831: I wish the word 'emo' existed back when I was emo. Then I could have described myself better.

Dakishimeru: Thanks for following my fics! I'm glad you're still enjoying them :)

chaosddragon82: I wasn't sure if Kishimoto-sensei had any other plans for Byakugan upgrades (similar to Mangekyo Sharingan) so I didn't want to go ahead and make up anything too elaborate. Basically, I made him faster, stronger, and better at what he already does X3 Sakura, however, would use standard ninjutsu (but in clever ways!) so it was easier to make up realistic stuff for her.

sara1965: Glad you like it! Thanks for leaving feedback :)


	9. Chapter 9

Reading Ahead of the Lines - Chapter 9

----

Neji caught up to Sakura easily given her exhausted state. "What's going on?" he asked with concern. 

"Yeah, yeah, Sakura-chan," Naruto added from the other side of her. "What did Tsunade-baa-chan say?"

Sakura's lips were pressed in a tight line. "She said that Jiraiya-sama got himself in trouble, and that she was going to go dig him out. But there's more to it than that." Her brow creased as she stared straight ahead. "It almost seems like she was saying goodbye to me."

"Don't worry about Ero-sennin," Naruto said reassuringly. "That guy has a hundred different ways to get out of a sticky situation. And Tsunade-baa-chan is probably just getting sentimental in her old age." His eyes betrayed his words though, and his hands tightened into fists.

Once back at the camp, Sakura quickly called everyone to attention and relayed the message to Kakashi. She, Naruto, and Kakashi were to cancel their mission and return to Konoha as soon as possible. Neji could tell from her eyes, though, that there was more that she wasn't telling them.

Kakashi's dark eye reflected light from the dying bonfire and almost looked like his Sharingan's lost twin. "Alright, the three of us will rest for four hours and then head back to Konoha. Everyone else, we will have to leave the two captives with you. Return as quickly as possible, but caution comes first."

Naruto immediately began spluttering his arguments for why the three of them should leave immediately. For once, Sakura was obstinately right beside him. "Tsunade-shishou said we should hurry!"

Kakashi cut off their protests by raising his hand. "If we rest for a little while, we will make the trip back to Konoha faster than if we left right now. I guarantee it."

Sakura began to protest again, but Neji touched her elbow, and when she turned to look at him, he shook his head silently.

"Shiragawa-taichou, I'll go with them. I'll be able to speed up their trip," Uzuki said to the old captain. The weathered man nodded his agreement, and she turned to Kakashi as if expecting an argument.

"I'll come too," Neji said from behind Sakura. "There are still enemies in this area. If they spring an ambush, Uzuki and I can take care of it without delaying you three."

Uzuki gave Neji a quick wink and a thumbs up while Kakashi thought this over. "Fine, the five of us will leave in four hours. Rest now because we will be moving fast," he said finally.

As the group began dispersing again, and the people on watch changed shifts, Neji could hear Sai ask Kakashi, "Shouldn't I come along too, since I'm part of your team now?"

He didn't hear Kakashi's response, however, because Sakura was drifting away from the center of the camp. She threw herself down under a giant oak tree at the edge of the clearing and sighed.

"How am I supposed to rest when Tsunade-shishou is in trouble?" she asked in frustration.

Neji sat down against the tree and pulled her onto his lap. She leaned back onto his chest so that his legs were bent on either side of her tired frame. Without saying a word, he placed one palm on her stomach and the other on her left breast over her heart.

Carefully measuring the speed of her remaining chakra as it flowed through her body, he began inserting his own chakra at a slightly slower rate. After a couple moments, he could feel her heartbeat starting to calm down, and he slowed her system just a touch more.

"Mmm, that's so relaxing," she murmured as she burrowed deeper into his arms. The shirt she was wearing rode up high on one side, and Neji swallowed hard. He forced down a rising surge of lust as he remembered the last time he had tampered with her chakra system. That time, he had accelerated the chakra in parts of her body to achieve an overall more passionate response.

She wriggled again and let out a soft mewing noise as sleep finally won out over impatience and frustration. Neji leaned his head back against the rough bark of the tree and sighed, "You still have no idea what you do to me."

He noticed Uzuki walking towards them from the center of the camp with a smug look on her face. Neji wasn't sure if he wanted to blush with embarrassment or roll his eyes.

She stopped a short distance away and pointed to her forehead and then to Neji. At first, he thought she was talking about his seal, but then when she mimed sleeping, he realized she was asking if he needed to be put to sleep like the night before. He was capable of using meditation to lull himself to sleep, but he remembered how refreshed he had felt that morning.

Nodding to the older woman, she smiled, made a couple handseals, and touched him gently on the forehead. "Sleep well, Neji-kun," she said.

"Thank you, Onee-san," he replied with a smirk as he drifted away.

----

Sure enough, Neji felt a hundred times better when Kakashi finally woke him and Sakura. They gathered their belongings, and Sakura quickly changed back into her regular clothes. She seemed similarly refreshed and impatient to finally get going.

"Did you get time to rest, too?" Neji asked Uzuki while Kakashi conferred quietly with Shiragawa and Yamato.

"I'll be fine," Uzuki said dismissively. "I'm used to this, after all."

Neji frowned at how casually she accepted it, but didn't have time to probe deeper. He noticed Sakura watching them from the corner of his eye, and now she came over to stand next to him. Close.

"Neji-kun, how are your eyes feeling? You've been using your Byakugan much more than usual," she asked, placing one hand on his cheek and tilting his face so she could examine his silver eyes.

The corner of Uzuki's mouth twitched upwards, but before she could excuse herself, Kakashi announced that they were ready to go. He put Uzuki at the front of the group and told her to light the way so they could travel at maximum speed. Neji frowned at this because it also made her the most likely target for an ambush or trap, but she only nodded as if it was a matter of course.

Coldly, Neji realized that the priority was to escort the other three to Konoha as the Hokage had ordered. He and Uzuki were there to make sure it happened. As the five shinobi set off back into the forest and across the river, Neji fell into the rear position so that nothing could catch them from behind.

Uzuki had created a violet ball of light that floated ahead of her and lit the surrounding area with a dim glow. It was just enough to see a few steps ahead, but not enough to completely ruin their night vision. Since they were now traveling straight towards Konoha instead of following a trail, they were far south of the village where Neji had bought Sakura's bracelet when the sky finally started to brighten.

They had already been traveling for several hours, and the sun had completely left the horizon when Kakashi called a brief halt for food and water. "Uzuki, you'd better help Sakura," he added.

"Hai," the dark-haired woman replied, but then over her shoulder she called, "I'll get you next, senpai."

Sakura seemed about to get indignant about needing "help," but Uzuki was quick to explain. "You still haven't recovered from your fight yesterday, but I can help replenish your chakra for this trip."

Neji watched closely as Uzuki placed her palm on Sakura's forehead. As Sakura's chakra flowed past Uzuki's hand, it appeared to increase by almost two-fold. The older woman's own chakra only diminished slightly. Certainly not by as much as Sakura was gaining.

"You can create chakra?" Neji asked incredulously. What a truly useful talent!

"Not exactly," Uzuki said with a wry smile. "It's almost like genjutsu. I can stimulate Sakura-san's body to regenerate chakra faster than usual. She will be able to use it for ninjutsu, accelerated movement, whatever, but when it's depleted, she will be even more exhausted than usual. Like all things, it has a price."

"Thank you, Uzuki-san," Sakura said sincerely. "Returning home is my highest priority now."

The ANBU kunoichi smiled at her and said, "Now to help your sensei, too. This will be the second time I've amplified his chakra, so he will be especially tired when we return."

That done, the group continued on without another break. Neji was beginning to consider asking Uzuki for her jutsu, but her own chakra was beginning to run low as well. He had stopped using his Byakugan hours ago in an effort to conserve his remaining stamina.

The sky was just starting to fade to pink and orange when the great gate of Konoha swelled into view. "Finally!" Naruto said, giving voice to what they were all thinking. Neji had never been pushed so hard in his life - even the time spent with Gai and Lee.

Sakura didn't pause to catch her breath when they all landed outside the open gate. She withdrew one of Tsunade's scrolls from her pouch and untied the strings. Kakashi's eyebrows rose into his hitai-ate when he saw what kind of scroll it was. Neji's stomach clenched in knots as he realized what Sakura had been keeping from them all since the night before.

Unwinding the scroll, she knelt and put the parchment on the ground. Taking a kunai, she stabbed her index finger a little more viciously than was necessary and used the blood to write her name in the column next to Tsunade's.

Her hand was trembling as she touched each fingertip to the blood dripping from her index finger and completed the contract with a print of each finger. "Naruto, I need more chakra," she said in a whisper.

She made the seals slowly before putting her bloody hand on the ground, and Naruto knelt to place both of his on top of hers. A blue glow enveloped them, and her tears sparkled like sapphires as they dripped from her chin.

"Kuchiyose," she said, swallowing a sob, "no Jutsu."

In a puff of white smoke, the giant form of Katsuyu filled the area outside the gate. The giant slug was slumped on its side, and blood dripped from where her eyestalks should have been. Her entire body was ripped and shredded, and her vibrant blue stripes were barely even visible.

"Katsuyu-sama," Sakura gasped.

"Sakura-chan, good," the great slug said in a melodic voice that made the earth shake. "I… I didn't think I could hold on much longer." With a crash, her head fell back to the ground, and the tremors in her body subsided.

Sakura bit back another sob as the dust and smoke finally cleared, and they could see two figures leaning against the side of the giant slug. Naruto jumped wordlessly to his feet and stared slack-jawed at the last of the Sannin.

Jiraiya was sitting almost casually against Katsuya's belly, and Tsunade had tucked herself beside him with her head on his remaining shoulder. His left arm was completely missing. His shaggy, white head slumped to the side so that his cheek rested on her gray-streaked hair.

Neji had never before seen Tsunade without her Henge. Her natural face was worn and wrinkled, but peaceful. The seal on her forehead was gone.

Naruto ran over towards them shouting, "Ero-sennin! Tsunade-baa-chan!"

Sakura turned away so she wouldn't have to watch as Naruto shook each body in turn. Neji needed no such confirmation. He could see that they had been dead for hours.

Neji walked over to Sakura but was unsure if she wanted to be alone or if she wanted comfort. "I knew it," she whispered. "I knew it." She wiped at the tears on her cheeks, but the blood from her finger only smeared them into a mess.

Neji was saved from having to make a decision by the arrival of eight figures. They were dressed like ANBU, but he knew immediately that they were part of Root.

A tall man with a blue-painted dog mask stepped forward and said impassively, "Hatake Kakashi. Uzumaki Naruto. You are both under arrest."

----

(AN) I don't know about you guys, but this week flew by for me! I think the reason I have so many cliffhangers is because I run out of time to finish (/AN)

Lady Light: Sorry, I did it again :(

Da Cute Snowbunny: I actually had fish for dinner the other night and couldn't stop imagining Kisame. Yuck!

Jay95: I know this still didn't explain everything, but I promise next chap will be more enlightening!

xXxfallenxsakuraxXx: I'm trying to stick to weekly updates, so even though I cliffhang, at least it's not for long (or worse, forever like some fics).

sara1965: I wanted to update quickly so that I didn't leave everyone hanging after last week, but I only succeeded in doing it again :(

AngelWing1138: LOL Kisushi!

The Galaxia Chronicler: Sorry, another cliffhanger! The next update will be more informative, I promise!

Dakishimeru: I hated killing Itachi, too, but for this fic, he had to go. Suigetsu is the one who died – I kind of imagined him as one of the reckless types who would die before being captured. Juugo was knocked out by Hinata, and Karin didn't really have a reason to fight hard other than keeping them away from Sasuke.

chaosdragon82: For some reason, I'm always a sucker for the underestimate-the-girl-and-she-kicks-your-ass-for-it scenario XP She's not perfect, though, which I emphasized this chap with her lower stamina compared to everyone else.

nejisakura: One scroll was instructions form Tsunade. The other was the contract for summoning slugs.

Leigh4: I'm glad you liked the fight chapter! I wasn't sure if it would make sense in people's heads or if it would just be a blur of confusion.

Jemiul: Poor Tsunade… and poor Gallant Jiraiya…

seguha: I hear that… I hope you get some time to relax over the holidays!

icy-cold refreshment: Awww… Sasuke's just misunderstood… just wait for the next chap X3 (I know, that was super evil bwahahahaha).

pixiedust8831: You didn't offend at all! I'm objective enough to look back at those times fondly ;) I guess instead of saying 'emo', I said 'angsty.'

TouchofPixieDust: I'm so glad you like the imagery because I always worry that I'm not spending enough time on detail. Maybe someday I'll go back and beef up these fics with more descriptions and stuff, but right now I have the plot driving everything in my head, so I don't spend as much time describing clothing, expressions, etc…


	10. Chapter 10

Reading Ahead of the Lines – Chapter 10

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(AN) I can't believe it's been over a year since I started writing Reading Beneath. Wow the time has flown by! I want to thank everyone who has been following these fics for months and welcome those who have found it more recently. This started off as a selfish project to rewrite the story how _I_ wanted it to be, but now I've realized that I enjoy writing for other people. Sharing it with everyone has become a real highlight in my life (I'm such a sap…)

Anyway, I hope you all had a good holiday, and here's to a happy new year (/AN)

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"What?" Sakura said in confusion as she stared at the eight members of Root standing between them and the gate.

"What the hell do you mean?" Naruto asked angrily from where he knelt in the shadow of Katsuyu's corpse. "Someone get help! The Hokage has been murdered!"

Uzuki said nothing, but she moved closer to Kakashi and calmly pulled her mask from her pouch. The porcelain surface was still spattered with blood and gave her the appearance of a hellcat as she set it in place.

Kakashi likewise did not respond, but raised his hitai-ate from his left eye. The Root ninja shifted their weight, but Sakura saw their leader flick his fingers quickly, and they relaxed again.

"Hatake Kakashi. Uzumaki Naruto. You are hereby under arrest. We have orders to bring you to Danzou-sama dead or alive," the dog-masked man said again.

"Didn't you hear me?" Naruto demanded as he stood up. "Tsunade-baa-chan has been killed! We have to…"

"Naruto-kun," Kakashi said, cutting him off. "They already know."

"Then why aren't they doing something about it?" Naruto continued. "Why are they wasting time?"

"They _are_ doing something about it," Uzuki hissed from behind her mask. "And they _aren't_ wasting time."

"Danzou has no right to issue arrests," Kakashi told the Root leader conversationally.

"He has every right as the new Hokage," the tall man replied.

The anxiety and fear Sakura had been bottling up all day was now fueling the rage that was building in her chest. She had known. Tsunade had _known._

She reached into her pouch for the special tag that had been included with the scroll from Kiyoko. Immediately, she felt a prick on her neck.

Not daring to move, she saw from the corner of her eye that one of the Root ninja was holding a kunai to her throat. Neji was beside him with two fingers against the man's temple.

"Nobody else move," the leader said. "You Hyuuga, move away from her or you all die here."

Sakura was frantically trying to decide if she had enough chakra left to gamble using Kawarimi no Jutsu to escape when she felt something cold and scaley brush against her leg. She bit back a shriek as she realized that a giant serpant had immobilized the ninja who was threatening her.

His mask had fallen off, and his blue eyes were bulging at the giant snake's head, which was flicking its tongue near his ear. A hand grabbed her arm and yanked her away from her temporary assailant.

She looked up as Neji pulled her protectively behind him, but his attention was on someone else. Standing ten meters from them was a disheveled Uchiha with a sullen, scarlet glare. His clothing was still in tatters, but his sword's blade was clean and sharp.

"Sasuke!" Naruto said in astonishment.

"Sasuke-kun, you followed us," Kakashi said with raised eyebrows.

The last scion of the Uchiha clan opened his mouth to reply, but then shut it with a grunt.

"We can talk later," Sakura cut in, saving him from having to respond. "Right now, we could use another ally."

"Is he?" Kakashi asked blithely with a glance at Sasuke, who nodded. "Then we'll discuss this all later," the older man agreed.

Sakura remembered what she had been in the process of doing and removed the tag from her pouch. With a quick flick, she had the tag affixed to a shuriken flying skyward.

The Root ninja responded at once and slowly spread out to surround them amidst the shower of blue fireworks from her tag.

"What was that?" Neji asked as he closed the tenketsu of the man still struggling with Sasuke's serpent.

"Tsunade's message said to use it if we encountered trouble," she told him. The man's eyes rolled back in his head as Neji finished the job, and the snake disappeared in a puff of smoke.

She looked over at Sasuke, who was looking at Neji. Crimson met silver again as both men nodded in acknowledgement.

Then, the Root ninja closed in on them, and everything dissolved into chaos. It was obvious that she and Neji were not Root's priority because only one man with a fox mask headed in their direction. The majority of their numbers were closing in around Kakashi and Uzuki.

"Head for the gate," Neji said in a low voice as they warily watched the Root shinobi approach.

Suddenly her arms and legs felt a hundred times heavier, and she realized that Uzuki's jutsu was wearing off. Days of traveling came crashing down on her body all at once as she stumbled towards the gate. The man with a fox mask had no problem dodging Neji and cutting her off.

Kakashi must have also felt the consequences of the jutsu because he fell to his knees in the middle of making a series of hand seals. Uzuki positioned herself in front of him, but one against three was near impossible when in the best of health. A man with a boar mask spun quickly to deliver a vicious kick to the side of her head, and she flew through the air to land in a crumpled heap.

Naruto and Sasuke each had their own opponent, though Saukra could tell even Naruto was winded. All in all, they were a pretty ragged team of shinobi. Six against eight would have been difficult had they been fully rested, let alone in their current state.

Suddenly, Neji appeared in a blur of motion and pushed the fox-masked man into a defensive stance. Sakura wondered at how he could still move so quickly and gracefully when she felt like a sack of potatoes. "Go now!" he shouted sharply.

She turned towards the gate, but something was setting off alarms in her head. Including the man on the ground, that accounted for seven Root ninja. Where was the eighth?

"No!" she screamed, suddenly spotting a figure moving near the motionless bulk of Katsuyu. She made a move towards the giant slug, but the fox-masked man slipped around Neji and landed a blow to her stomach.

She fell to her knees gasping, but ignoring the tears she forced her diaphragm to suck in a lungful of air. "Don't touch them!" she screamed again, and this time the man struck her face down onto the ground.

Spitting the dirt from her mouth, she saw Naruto whirl around and finally notice the man who had picked up Tsunade's body. "Don't touch…" she whimpered, stretching her arm towards her master and mentor and role model.

Naruto threw his head back in a howl of fury, and the Kyuubi's red aura sprang up around him. In an instant, the chakra had manifested itself in three glowing tails. The man who had been fighting Naruto tried to distract the enraged blond, but in the blink of an eye Naruto had grabbed him by the throat and tossed him fifty meters into the woods like a straw dummy.

The man holding Tsunade's lifeless body disappeared in a puff of smoke, and Sakura curled her fingers into the dirt as her body began sobbing uncontrollably.

Suddenly, the man who had knocked her down was flying through the air in front of her. Neji hauled her to her feet with a grim expression and brushed the dirt from her face. "Neji, they took…," she choked through her sobs.

Her words were interrupted as something heavy fell from the sky and landed with a bone-cracking thud on top of the man with a fox mask. She and Neji both stared open-mouthed at the broken body of the man who had just tried to escape with the Godaime.

Still snarling, Naruto landed nearby with Tsunade's body carefully cradled in his arms. He placed her body gently on the ground and brushed a few strands of gray hair from her face with a claw-tipped finger.

Three Root shinobi, including the dog-masked leader, cautiously circled around Naruto, who paid them no attention. She quickly assessed the situation and decided it had gone from bad to worse.

Kakashi had been bound and blindfolded, and Uzuki was still motionless where she had landed. Sasuke was holding his own against his opponent, but his eyes were pitch black now. Without his Sharingan, Sakura doubted he could match an ANBU-rank shinobi for much longer. A short distance away, the man Naruto had thrown into the woods was staggering back into sight.

"I'll help Naruto," Neji told her. "You have to get into the village and get help." His body betrayed his confident words, however, as the veins surrounding his eyes thinned before fading altogether.

"I'm not leaving you all," Sakura said stubbornly. "I'm not leaving Shishou to these vultures."

"Someone needs to tell everyone about what happened here," Neji countered.

"Then you go," Sakura fired back. "I don't think I'll get very far anyway."

Neji opened his mouth again, but another voice cut him off. "Neji, you should know by now that you shouldn't bother arguing with Sakura when she's like that," Tenten said from behind them.

"I have never seen you in such condition, my greatest rival," Lee commented with a touch of glee in his voice.

"Wha...wher…," was all Sakura could manage to splutter. In less than a second, forty Jounin and Chuunin had appeared outside the gate. Sakura gaped at how crowded it felt all of a sudden.

Kurenai smiled at her from a short distance away. "Godaime-sama sent messages to us earlier this morning telling us to watch for a blue flare. She said it would mean trouble and to hurry if we saw it."

"Sorry it took so long," Ibiki added. "We were all meeting at the top of the Hokage Monument, so it took a couple minutes to get here.

"With this, Kakashi, I am certainly ahead in our score," Gai crowed as he removed the blindfold from his white-haired rival.

"Let me through!" Shizune said, pushing past the spandex-clad man. She dropped to her knees beside Uzuki and immediately began examining the unconscious woman.

Everyone kept their distance from where Naruto was still hunched protectively over Tsunade's body, but the red aura began to fade when he spotted Iruka working his way through the crowd. By the time the scarred academy teacher reached the blond, his appearance had returned to normal.

Sakura continued to gape wordlessly as the situation was resolved in twenty seconds. The remaining five Root ninja were no match for three dozen of Konoha's elite, and they were securely bound and trussed like pigs for the market.

"She knew," Sakura murmured to herself as she watched the spectacle unfold. "She_knew_."

"What happened?" Neji asked Kurenai. "It seems like you were all expecting something like this."

Kurenai let out a sigh and turned towards where Uzuki was tottering to her feet and holding her head gingerly. "There's no point placing blame now, but word got out that Godaime-sama had died, and Danzou immediately attempted to seize power using Root. He currently has the council captive in their meeting chamber, but I don't think they'll give him their votes even under threat of death. And at least we managed to recover Godaime-sama's last testament."

"Pardon the interruption, Kurenai-san," a deep voice said from nearby. "May I have a word with my nephew?"

"It's no problem, Hyuuga-sama," Kurenai replied smoothly. "If you'll excuse me, I wish to inquire about my team." She spun on her heel and headed towards the circle of people crowded around Kakashi and Uzuki.

"I wish to know the same," Hiashi said, focusing on Neji. "Kakashi's team is here, but what of the rest? Where is Hinata?"

"We hurried home ahead of them," Neji replied with a small bow. "But I think you will be pleased with Hinata's accomplishments during the mission."

"Umm… please excuse me too," Sakura interjected with a hasty bow. From the corner of her eye, she had noticed a group of people surrounding Sasuke, and she quickly headed towards them.

"I'm pretty sure he was in the bingo book," Ebisu was saying as she elbowed her way closer.

"Wait," she shouted. "Wait!" She pushed to the front and turned to face the skeptics. "Give him a chance. If he wants to return to Konoha, surely you can't deny him that."

Ebisu looked like he was about to say something, but Anko cut him off with a flourish of her arm. "I think I have the best grasp of this situation, so leave it to me," she announced to everyone. "Forgiveness is not cheap – trust me I know – but everyone deserves the chance. I'll take responsibility of him from here."

There was some muttering, but the group began dispersing, and Sakura bowed low to Anko. "Thank you so much for understanding," she told the older woman.

"It's no problem," Anko told her with a wry smile. "I was in the same boat, remember." She turned to face the ragged Uchiha, who shifted his feet awkwardly. "And I also know what it's like to come home."

Sasuke met Anko's gaze and gave a curt nod before looking away again. "You will be under probation, of course," Anko said, addressing Sasuke. "But that's a small price to pay and worth every penny. Come with me for now."

Sasuke followed the Jounin obediently but paused as he drew even with her. "Thank you, Sakura," he whispered before striding through the gate and back into Konoha.

She wondered that she had any tears left in her body as she scrubbed at her cheeks yet again. She noticed Naruto walking towards her with Tsunade's body in his arms and decided that her tears would have to be infinite to last through this ordeal.

"Oy, Sakura-chan," he said softly. "I think you should be the one to carry Tsunade-baa-chan back. Don't worry, she's a lot lighter than you'd expect."

She sniffed loudly and took the Hokage's body from her teammate. He was right, she felt light as a feather. She tried to be scientific as she studied the cuts and wounds on her master's body. Who had done this? What the hell had happened?

Naruto returned to her side carrying the body of the gallant Jiraiya. Wordlessly, they passed through the gates and back into the village of Konoha.

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(AN) Sorry for the delay with this update - the holidays had me running in circles. Hopefully I'll be back to posting a chap a week after this. I'd estimate another 3 chaps or so, but who knows. I honestly didn't expect this side-venture to last this long let alone for another month or two. I got carried away! (/AN)

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.'Sabaku No Annie'.: Don't worry, Uzuki is too old for Neji XP

Jay95: Sorry I didn't answer your question this chapter. I promise I will in the next!

AngelWing1138: LOL You were close! It was Sasuke who followed, not Sai.

sara1965: Hopefully this is a little less of a cliffhanger

Da Cute Snowbunny: Ever since the Jiraiya/Pein fight started, I had this in my head for Reading Ahead. Sorry it's so sad :(

seguha: Hope you had a good vacation!

Dakishimeru: Sorry for the wait for this update. I'm gonna try to stick to the chap-a-week timeline until I finish (hopefully soon XD)

nejisakura: I'll be sure to explain next chap!

animevivverz: This is my first venture into writing a continuous story (Reading Beneath was really more like a compilation of one-shots from the same story). I didn't realize I'd have such a penchant for cliffhangers X3

icy-cold refreshment: Very very close! You called it on the civil war!

xXHyuugaSakuraXx: I must confess I've had that planned for a couple weeks X3

xXxfallenxsakuraxXx: I'm glad you're wondering about it so much! It means I'm doing my job

Mayumi Crescent Moon: Glad you're still enjoying it. I'll keep the updates coming!

Jemiul: Thanks for continuing to follow my fic, and I'm glad you still like the story!

pixiedust8831: I'm sorry it took so long to update after that last cliffhanger. The holidays got in the way of everything!

Trinity Tomoe: Sorry I didn't explain their arrest fully. Would it suffice for now to say that Danzou is an arse?

chaosdragon82: Heheh, I had to give Sakura little spur in the side to stop taking Neji for granted. Poor Jiraiya, halfway through the Pein arc I knew he wouldn't make it. With that over, hopefully the manga will advance faster. I'm hoping to finish this side-sequel before going back to Reading Beneath. Hope you had a nice holiday break!

Pharos Hyaline: I'm so glad you think this is canon-like! That has been one of my main goals this whole time. As for the brevity, I've read some fics that are really phenomenal, but tend to drag things out a little too long. That's why I keep my chapters pretty short, too. Were you saying that it IS jarring or is NOT jarring? Either way, I hope that in my enthusiasm to move the plot along I haven't been neglecting other things.

al2010: I'm glad you're enjoying this fic. Thanks for stopping to say hi


	11. Chapter 11

Reading Ahead of the Lines – Chapter 11

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By the time Neji finally extracted himself from Hiashi's interrogation, Sakura and Naruto were already passing through the gate with the bodies of the fallen Sannin. He found Lee and Tenten in the group that had crowded around Kakashi, who was still leaning heavily on Gai's shoulder.

"We didn't expect to see you so soon," Tenten commented, examining him from head to toe. "And Lee was right. You look like hell."

Neji finally took a moment to assess his own condition and was forced to agree with his teammates. He looked like hell. His hair had fallen loose during the confrontation with Root, and his clothing was travel stained from the frantic trip back to Konoha. At least he had washed the blood from his arm guards the night before.

"Did you hear about the Akatsuki explosion?" Neji asked. When they nodded, he continued, "My team was sent to investigate, and then we were reassigned to follow Team Kakashi." He decided to take the high road and ignore Tenten's smug smirk.

"What's going on here?" he asked, changing the subject.

"We were in the middle of training when Gai-sensei noticed an emergency signal from the Village," Lee explained.

"We're still not entirely sure, but everyone was saying that the Godaime had died," Tenten interjected. "And then some old warhound declared himself the new Hokage. He has control of a group of ANBU called Root, and they are currently holding the Council hostage."

"So you all were meeting to organize an opposition?" Neji prompted.

"Yup," Tenten nodded. "They were waiting for Kakashi-sensei to return before making a move against Danzou."

"Why Kakashi?" Neji asked, remembering how Root had specifically targeted him.

Tenten and Lee exchanged glances before answering. "From the sound of it, he will be the next Hokage," Lee said solemnly. "Though I don't understand why Kakashi-sensei would be chosen over Gai-sensei," he added petulantly.

Neji bit back a dozen reasons and instead processed everything he knew about the situation. Sakura was right. Tsunade had known this would happen. She must have known there would be contention for her empty seat and made appropriate preparations including naming a successor.

For one, it explained why everyone was gathered around Kakashi as if awaiting an order. The silver-haired man certainly did not look like a Hokage at the moment, but already he had their respect.

"Alright, take me to where Danzou has the council," Kakashi said tiredly after hearing the situation from the other Jounin.

"You're in no condition for this," Uzuki commented from where she was being propped up by Shizune. "Leave it to ANBU." She gestured at the two dozen masked figures standing nearby.

"Well, maybe I'll leave the more energetic work to these fine shinobi," Kakashi said with forced lightheartedness. "But I want to be there when it happens."

Uzuki clucked her tongue in annoyance but didn't argue any more. She turned to a man Neji suspected was an ANBU captain and began issuing orders in a low voice. Surprisingly, the man didn't question her authority and quickly relayed the instructions to the rest of the squads present.

Three teams spread out around Kakashi and Gai in a semblance of an honor guard, and two more disappeared to scout ahead. The rest of the Jounin and Chuunin fell in behind the procession. Uzuki and the captain led the way back into the village and angled towards the Hokage Tower.

Neji caught a flicker of pink and red as Sakura turned a corner far in the distance, but before he could make his way out of the entourage, a man with a rat-mask appeared at his side.

"Hyuuga-san, Uzuki has requested your presence," the man informed him.

Neji glanced once more in the direction he had last seen Sakura, but obediently followed the ANBU shinobi towards the front of the formation.

As he passed Gai and Kakashi in the center of the group, his bushy-eyebrowed sensei called out, "Neji-kun! Kakashi tell me you defeated Uchiha Itachi. Well done, student of mine. I expect no less from my subordinates!" Kakashi barely managed to duck in time as Gai spun around in an elaborate pose and gave Neji a sparkling thumbs-up.

At one time in his life, Neji would have swelled with pride at the murmurs that Gai's announcement produced, but pride requires energy, and Neji certainly didn't have enough for that right now.

Finally he caught up with Uzuki, and the man with a rat-mask disappeared with a nod.

"I know you're tired, Neji-kun, but I need your eyes right now," Uzuki said with an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry, Onee-san," Neji told her, "But I don't have enough chakra left to use my Byakugan. Hiashi-sama is here, though."

Uzuki's pretty mouth twisted as she examined Neji. "That's not good enough, Neji-kun. The future of the Village could be determined in the next hour."

His eyebrows rose in surprise at her words. Hiashi was not good enough? The man was unarguably one of the strongest ninja in the village.

She pulled him to one side so the procession could pass by them. "Unfortunately, I'm worthless in my current state," Uzuki said with disgust. "So you need to be useful for both of us."

She placed a hand on either side of his face and stood on her toes so she could meet his eyes. "No one reaches Kakashi," she said evenly. "No one."

Neji realized her intention a split second too late to stop her. He felt chakra surge through his body like water through a desert, and Uzuki fell forward against his chest. He gently lowered her to the ground and activated his bloodline. Sure enough, she had used the last of her chakra performing her revitalizing jutsu. In fact, he was surprised she had even managed that.

Looking up, Neji realized the group had stopped moving, and Kakashi was walking towards them. The older man knelt in front of him with a barely suppressed groan and examined the unconscious woman. "Yuugao-chan, you are too reckless," he muttered under his breath as he lifted the woman into his arms.

With a nod to Neji, he returned to the center of the procession, and Neji hurried to the front where Uzuki had been walking with the captain. Then man glanced at him, noted his eyes, and grunted what could have been approval.

Not wanting to waste Uzuki's sacrifice, he began relaying the position of every ninja within 300 meters. He had difficulty telling the difference between Root and ANBU, but the captain knew exactly where his own shinobi were deployed and immediately began using his teams to sweep the area.

When they finally reached the Hokage Tower, Neji let out a clipped laugh. The captain gave him a guarded look, but Neji waited for Kakashi before explaining the situation. "There are three teams around the perimeter, one team on the first floor guarding the stairs, and two teams outside the Council's chambers," he told them.

"Is everyone alright inside the chamber?" Kakashi asked. "How many Root ninja are inside with Danzou?"

Neji couldn't keep the smirk from his face as he said, "Only Danzou is inside the chamber with the Council, and he's already dead."

"Are you sure?" Ibiki demanded incredulously.

"It could be a very elaborate jutsu, but I doubt it," Neji replied.

"Either way, we have to take out those ninja first," Kakashi said to the captain. The older man nodded and pulled a small whistle from his belt pouch. Within minutes, two dozen more ANBU appeared from the shadows.

In the end, Root was simply outnumbered. Kakashi waited patiently while the Root shinobi were either captured or chased away. Neji kept track of the fleeing ninja while Kakashi chatted amiably with Kurenai, who likewise didn't participate in the fighting.

Neji cleared his throat and interrupted Kurenai's recollection of the food cravings she had been having lately. "It's clear."

As they walked through the now-empty halls, Neji wondered how Danzou could have seriously thought his much smaller group of Root ninja could possibly be enough to take control of the village by force. He must have expected to be Hokage before any real opposition could form.

They reached the Council's chambers on the second floor, and Kakashi said, "Gai-kun, could you hold Uzuki while I see what's going on inside?"

"Of course!" Gai said with an over-sized smile. "It would be my pleasure to take care of the beautiful maiden in distress."

"Actually…," Kakashi hesitated. "Neji-kun, could you take care of Uzuki? I need Gai to watch my back."

Neji shared a brief, knowing look with Kakashi as the limp woman was transferred back into his care.

Straightening up and running a hand through his unruly hair, Kakashi knocked loudly on the door. "Sorry for the interruption," he called jovially.

The door burst open to reveal an older woman with a surly expression. "It's about damn time, Hatake," she grumbled.

An even older man shouldered past her to peek at the crowd gathered in the hallway. He spotted Neji and pointed a withered finger at him. "That's cheating! He has a Hyuuga with him!"

Neji had no idea how to respond, but was saved by the shortest old woman he had ever seen in his life. "It doesn't matter who he brought along, the deal we made was just that he had to come in person."

Another quavering voice piped up from inside the room, "Don't just stand there blocking the door. Let the man in so we can finish and go home."

An ANBU team proceeded Kakashi into the room, who followed hesitantly as if expecting an ambush. Neji crossed his arms and watched the conversation through the walls.

"Well, I suppose the first thing we should do is explain the situation," said a woman seated at the table. Delicate hair sticks pinned her gray hair in a tidy bun, and from the way the other council members ceased their grumblings, she was obviously one with authority.

She gestured at an empty chair and Kakashi fell into it with a sigh. "Now, as you may have heard already," she began primly, "Danzou arrived shortly before noon and announced the death of Tsunade-hime. Can anyone confirm this?"

Kakashi nodded silently, and she continued, "He demanded we immediately make him the successor and had the gall to threaten our lives should we not comply."

She sniffed with derision, and Kakashi said wryly, "Obviously you did not comply," as he glanced towards where Shizune was examining Danzou's body. "And from the looks of it, you did not comply several hours ago.

"Yes, well given the circumstances and given that we were all present, we decided to spend the time discussing who the next Hokage should really be, assuming Danzou's information was accurate," the woman explained. "There were some who were opposed to your youth saying that you lacked true devotion to this village."

She shot a haughty glare at the old man who had pointed out Neji earlier. "We agreed that if you came here to "free" us, it would demonstrate your commitment."

The old man grumbled under his breath before muttering, "He had a Hyuuga. He knew Danzou was already dead."

The woman slammed her hands on the table as she stood up quickly. The charms dangling from her hair sticks chimed as she said, "We also didn't realize that he would be on a mission and still he came. The criteria have been met. Hatake Kakashi is the Rokudaime Hokage."

The dissenter met her eyes defiantly, but his complaints faded away into silence all the same. Kakashi cleared his throat, and the woman transferred her piercing gray eyes to him.

"Excuse me, elder, but what if I don't…," he began.

"If you don't 'what'?" the woman snapped, interrupting his protest.

"Ah, perhaps you would like to think this over and meet again tomorrow?" Kakashi amended quickly.

"There's nothing to discuss, and we will have our hands full making this transition smoothly. Do not waste our already precious time," she replied coolly. Addressing everyone in the room, she added, "We will hold the funeral for the late Godaime the day after tomorrow. The day after that, we will formally announce Kakashi-sama as the new Hokage."

Gathering her shawl tightly around her shoulders, she swept from the room. Once in the hallways, she paused near Neji and unceremoniously instructed the ANBU team there to dispose of Danzou's body.

As the rest of the council members stood to leave, Kurenai asked the tiny old woman, "If Danzou has been dead for hours, who has been issuing orders to Root?"

The woman cackled and made a shaky hand seal. "Henge," she rasped and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Neji chuckled to himself when the air finally cleared and they were left staring at a perfect imitation of the old warhound.

The woman transformed back to her bent figure with a raucous cackle. "The old bastard assumed we would be helpless as babes, and it's his loss for the mistake. You don't get to be my age without a handy supply of tricks."

A bald man with thick glasses added, "We all spent at least some time in the Ninja Academy, though not everyone remembers as much as Umeko." The tiny woman cackled again and slapped Kakashi heartily on the back before leaving.

"It was _my_ idea to tell Root to bring you back dead or alive," said the man who was against Kakashi's promotion. "I wanted to see if you'd be trussed up like a goose."

Kakashi just smiled and nodded as the old man turned to leave, and Kurenai gave Gai's foot a good stomp just as Neji's old teacher was opening his mouth with a large grin.

"Well," Kakashi said as he heaved himself to his feet. "Shall we go take a look at the Godaime's office?" Two ANBU disappeared with Danzou's body, and the rest of the procession filed back out into the hallway.

The Jounin and Chuunin still lingering around erupted into chatter as they tried to hear word of what had happened inside the room. Neji looked around for Tenten and Lee, but before he could spot them, Kakashi asked him to bring Uzuki to the main office. Kurenai, meanwhile, peeled off to start fielding all the questions.

Once inside the Hokage's office, the mood grew somber again. Everywhere they looked there were memories of the Godaime. Messy stacks of papers and folders, a chipped sake bottle, the remnants of a broken chair tossed in a heap in the corner.

Kakashi turned to the ANBU captain and gave a brief list of instructions. Set a watch for Yamato and his group and bring them here immediately, announce Danzou's death and offer a pardon to any Root member who still wants to work for ANBU, bring Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke here immediately, and find some spare blankets and pillows.

"There's no need to look for Naruto or Sakura," Neji interjected as he walked over towards the window. He drew the curtains aside and pushed the panes open just in time. He dodged out of the way just as an orange-clad figure came tumbling through the opening amidst a gust of cool evening air.

"Kakashi-sensei! Is everything okay?!" Naruto asked wildly as he looked around at all the people staring slack-jawed at his entrance.

Genma, who had just entered the room through the more conventional door snickered and said, "He could teach Anko a thing or two."

"I told you to wait, Naruto," said a tired, irate voice from the window. Sakura was perched on the sill and silhouetted by a spattering of stars in the cobalt sky.

She wobbled slightly, and Neji grabbed her arm to steady her. She gasped in surprise at the contact and he quickly pulled her into the room, catching her under her arms and steadying her against his chest. With her safe and back at his side, he released his Byakugan with a sigh of relief.

"You seem to be in the right place at the right time lately," she said with a small smile.

A man with a cat mask appeared with an armful of blankets, and Kakashi told him to just dump them on the floor. "I'd hate to burden the fine folks at the hospital, so we'll all just sleep here tonight while ANBU clears up any remaining problems," he announced to no one in particular, though Shizune pursed her lips in annoyance.

The subject was dropped when Anko burst through the door with Sasuke in tow. "I sealed Orochimaru's cursed seal," she announced proudly, spinning Sasuke around to display the handiwork on his neck.

A flicker of resentment danced in Sasuke's eyes, but Neji was impressed that the Uchiha was able to swallow being paraded around like a toy.

"Good, good," Kakashi said. "Very nice job, Anko. I want to keep my team here overnight until we're sure that Root has been taken care of, but I'll speak to you more about this in the morning."

Anko looked torn between preening from the compliment and scowling from the obvious dismissal. In the end, she gave Sasuke and Kakashi each a curt nod and strode from the room calling, "Sleep well," over her shoulder.

A few people followed Anko out as Kakashi knelt down to remove Uzuki's arm and chest guards. Naruto let out an epic yawn, which was the signal for everyone to grab a blanket and hunker down on the floor. Gai and Kurenai assured the tired group that they would stay just outside the room and excused themselves as well. Neji also moved to leave, but Sakura caught him by the arm.

Before she could say anything, though, Kakashi spoke up, "Neji-kun, you should stay here with us. I don't want anyone from this last mission getting caught in a misunderstanding with Root."

Misunderstanding. That was a nice way of putting it. Neji nodded and looked around for a blanket, but there were none left. Sakura tugged on his arm again, and he turned to see she was smiling.

"You can just share with me," she said with an impish grin. He couldn't help but smirk as she pulled him to one side of the room.

He sat down heavily with a sigh and leaned against the wall. Uzuki's jutsu had worn off just after Kakashi had met with the Council and his limbs felt like lead. He was amazed that Sakura and Kakashi had endured this level of fatigue for so long.

Sakura crawled next to him and pulled the blanket over them both. With a yawn, she voiced his thoughts out loud. "I don't think I've ever been this tired in my life," she groaned as she rested her head on his shoulder.

A whimpering noise caught their attention from the other side of the room, and they looked up to see Naruto watching them with big, watery eyes. "Sakura-chan," he pouted.

Kakashi threw a shuriken at the light switch, and the room grew dark with a dull thud. Uzuki, who had her head resting on Kakashi's lap, stirred but did not wake up.

"Team, I'm very proud of you," Kakashi said in the dark office. "All three of you have become truly talented shinobi, but I think here tonight, this is your first night as a genuine team."

"I'm proud of you, too," Neji whispered in Sakura's ear before kissing her temple. She snuggled onto his lap and buried her face against his neck. He could feel her lips move, but couldn't hear what she said. Pulling her body tighter against his own, he thought he had a good idea of what it was anyway.

----

.'Sabaku No Annie'.: No, Uzuki is definitely reserved for someone else

NanbeiNoHana: I'm glad you like the way I'm portraying Sasuke. I figure, he's just incredibly scarred and emotionally stunted. We'll try to get him back on track!

KunoichiruleALL: So far the interview seems right on the money! I think I heard that we might get some Kakashi action, too, right? I hope so!!

Lady Light: I felt bad about Tsunade, but for some reason I really wanted to make Kakashi Hokage. And we all knew what would happen to Jiraiya…

Jay95: I figured if Anko can come back after being Oro's disciple, why can't Sasuke?

seguha: What's regent's week? Holidays already feel like a thing of the distant past for me. Hopefully I can crank out the ending of this story before life drowns me again.

icy-cold-refreshment: I'm glad you liked the chapter! I was worried that getting away from the NejiSaku fluff would discourage readers.

Da Cute Snowbunny: Sorry for the late update. I kind of hit a slump, but I read some of my old favorite NejiSaku fics and got back into the mood. I really do love this pairing…

pixiedust8831: I'll bring Sai back next chapter, but he's not really a big player in this story. Even though he's in Root, I think his loyalties are swinging towards Naruto and Team Kakashi anyway.

m00kie: Done and done

reikari: I'm glad you like the story despite lacking the NejiSaku goodness of Reading Beneath. I think I kind of fell into a slump, though, because I strayed too far from what originally motivated me to start writing fics – creating a really sweet NejiSaku relationship. I'm sure I'll be coming back to that before its over.

Dakishimeru: I'm not a huge fan of Sasuke either, but I figure everyone makes mistakes. We'll have a little more angst, but not too much. This side-story started off with plenty to go around.

AngelWing1138: LOL too funny!

Mayumi Crescent Moon: Sorry for the delay, but I really am going to try to push out the ending quickly. It's so close I can taste it!

Jemiul: Definitely more NejiSaku next chapter… I already have it planned in my head. Now time to write!

chaosdragon82: Thanks as always for the great review I'll be sure to add Sasuke's team in the next chapter. I hope to see more of them in the manga, too! Otherwise gathering them all just to follow him in the background would be a waste.

al2010: Thanks for leaving a review! I'm glad you like the way I wrote Sasuke!

yuki san1: Sorry for killing Tsunade :( I thought it was appropriate that she go avenge Jiraiya, though. I wonder what she'll do about it in the manga.

Yamibito-fangirl: I'll try to finish this fic up quickly, but you're right, there still isn't a lot of material to continue Reading Beneath. It's been what, 8 months in real time since Team 7 and 8 left Konoha?


	12. Chapter 12

Reading Ahead of the Lines: Chapter 12

----

A low murmuring pulled Neji from the comfortable haze of sleep. He rolled over and yanked the blanket over his head in an attempt to get back to dreaming. He and Sakura were sparring in the stream again, but things were just taking a turn for the better. Much better.

Something pressed against his back, and he sat up in surprise. To his chagrin, he was greeted by a pair of groggy green eyes blinking up at him.

He leaned down to kiss her nose and said, "Good morning."

She smiled at him and rubbed her eyes. "Good morning."

Someone cleared his throat across the room and added, "Actually, it's past noon."

Neji and Sakura nearly banged heads as they sat bolt upright. Kakashi just gave them an amused smile, but Uzuki couldn't hold it in and turned away to laugh. Two more blanket-covered lumps sat up from the noise, and the previous days' events came rushing back in an instant.

To cover his embarrassment, Neji asked, "How is the situation?"

"Everything's taken care of," Uzuki said. "Yamato and the rest of the group got back this morning, but they're sleeping now."

"You're free to go home and wash up, but be back here in four hours," Kakashi finished.

Gathering their packs, the four younger shinobi said their goodbyes and trudged out of the room. Neji still felt like he'd been trampled by an elephant.

Sakura seemed fidgety as they walked down the stairs, and once out in the bright afternoon sun, she asked, "Sasuke-kun, do you have a place to stay?"

"I can just stay in one of the houses that still belongs to my clan," he said to the ground.

"No way!" Naruto said cheerfully. "There are plenty of open rooms in my apartment building. You should just rent one there so we can be neighbors!"

Sasuke opened his mouth to argue, but Sakura cut him off, "I think that's a great idea. Fixing up a house is a big deal. We can help you do that once you're settled."

Naruto nodded enthusiastically, "Sakura-chan is right. But let's go get something to eat first. I'm starving!"

"I'm going home first," Sakura told him. "I need to shower and change. We can all go out to eat after the meeting tonight."

Neji found himself strangely annoyed at the dreamy look Naruto got when Sakura mentioned showering, but he had to settle for feeling inwardly smug as they turned away from the other two and headed towards her house.

"You don't have to walk me home if you have other things to do," Sakura said as they wound through the busy street.

Neji didn't reply except to take her dirty hand in his and continue walking. Once back in front of her house, he found it hard to believe that it had been just over three days since he had walked away from her on this very spot.

Sakura must have been thinking the same thing, because she turned to him and said, "I'm sorry for everything that has happened since we came back from Suna."

"I'm sorry for leaving you so abruptly," he replied. "I'm sorry for running away." There was an awkward silence before he spoke again, "What I should have done was told you how much I love you."

The smile that danced across her lips made him forget about how hot his cheeks were getting. She brushed the loose hair from his face and stood on her toes to tangle her fingers behind his neck. "I love you too, Hyuuga Neji," she said, brushing his lips with her own as she spoke.

"Ahhhhhhh!" screamed a voice from the street. "Neji's kissing Sakura-chan!"

Neji froze and began contemplating if he had regained enough energy overnight to do violence. He decided to leave it to Sakura since it was very obvious that she most definitely had enough energy to do violence.

"Baka! Why are you following us?!" she shouted at the fox-eyed blond. Standing just behind Naruto was Sasuke, who had a puzzled look on his face.

"I didn't think it was appropriate to let you be alone with Neji, and I was right! He's taking advantage of you!" Naruto said accusingly.

"Neji-kun, you go on home. I can take care of this," Sakura said sweetly to him. "I'll see you tonight at the meeting." She very deliberately kissed him again before pushing him away and turning to face her teammates.

Neji leaped onto the roof and hesitated when Naruto yelled, "Rival!!" and pointed a finger at him. Great… another one…

Again he felt a wave of smugness as Sakura sent his newest rival flying head first into the building across from her house. "Don't be stupid!!" she shouted. Satisfied, Neji turned and continued towards his own home and the promise of hot food and hot water.

----

Sakura stayed in the shower long after the hot water had run out. Looking at her pruned fingers, she decided she probably looked like a Council member and turned off the water. She toweled off and got dressed in her street clothes only to flop face down onto her bed. It had never felt so soft or inviting in all her life.

Fifteen hours of sleep had given her better perspective on the whirlwind events of the past few days, but even still she had never been so emotionally and physically drained in her life.

Suddenly she jumped back to her feet. How could she have forgotten?! Opening her window, she leaped back out to the street and retraced her steps from earlier that day. She searched through the Hokage Tower to no avail and was just about to head towards the hospital when she spotted a hunched figure clutching a pink pig to her chest.

"Shizune!" Sakura called. The two women just stared numbly at each other before falling into each other's arms in a heap of sobbing and hugging. After several minutes, they managed to regain their composure.

"I was just –hic- just about to arrange the plans for tomorrow," Shizune said, wiping her face with her sleeve.

"I'll come, too," Sakura told her with a loud sniff. Together, they walked back towards their mentor's office.

----

By the time Kakashi's meeting rolled around, Sakura felt like she could use another 15 hours of sleep. She and Shizune were the last ones to arrive, and Uzuki hurried right over to them.

"Sakura-chan, Shizune-san, we need your help opening the Godaime's desk. We believe it has some important information, but it seems to have been sealed," the ANBU woman explained.

Sakura looked around the room for Neji while the older woman guided her towards the desk. She was surprised to see that he was wearing a plain light kimono, which spoke volumes about his intent to take it easy that night. He gave her a brief nod before she focused her attention on the bottom drawer of the desk. Tilting her head one way and then another, she made a few hand seals and placed her fingertips over the seal while muttering under her breath. Black writing wiggled out from beneath her hand, and she repeated the process twice more. "Five-point seal… two-point seal… four-point seal."

With a loud click, the file drawer rattled open to display an empty sake bottle and a few tiny cups beneath several scrolls covered in sloppy handwriting.

"Sakura-chan," Kakashi said with surprise, "I'm impressed with your seal techniques. How did you know…?"

"It was her lucky lottery number," Sakura explained sadly. "5, 2, 4."

"Okay," Kakashi said, turning towards the gathered shinobi. "Let's catch each other up to speed while Uzuki goes through these scrolls." Sakura thought it was strange to see her laid-back sensei asserting control over more than just her little team. She supposed there were many sides to that man that she still had never seen before.

Sakura crossed the office to stand with her teammates while Yamato began recounting the rest of the group's return to Konoha. They hadn't encountered any trouble, but travel had been hindered by the two captives. Also, they had decided to bring back the two Mist swords, and Kiba still wasn't at full strength and had to rely on Akamaru for transport. After Yamato was finished, attention shifted to Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun, what do you think we should do with your remaining teammates?" Kakashi asked. "Will they cause trouble?"

Sasuke shifted uncomfortably, and Sakura said encouragingly, "I'm sure we can work out any misunderstandings."

Saskue turned his black eyes towards her, and Inner Sakura instinctually braced for a scathing remark about keeping out of his business, but instead the Uchiha just nodded slightly and said, "I don't think Juugo or Karin will cause any problems. I just need to talk to them and explain the situation."

The conversation switched to whether or not they should return the two greatswords to Kirigakure, but Sakura was barely listening. She was busy contemplating how strange it was to finally have Sasuke back. Part of her felt like things had never changed, but another part felt like there was entirely different person standing beside them. She hadn't really had a chance to speak with him since he had saved her from the Root ambush except for his brief expression of gratitude. Did that mean he had forgiven her?

Inner Sakura jolted her out of her reverie as Sasuke's obsidian eyes met hers again. Hastily turning her attention towards Kakashi, she wracked her brain to recall what they were talking about.

There had been one scroll left unprotected on the Godaime's desk the previous morning, though the Sannin herself hadn't been seen since the night before. Shizune's face turned bright scarlet as Kakashi matter-of-factly informed them of how she had found the scroll and then immediately made the mistake of leaking it to Danzou, though his single dark eye made no accusations. She had later redeemed herself by reclaiming the scroll and calling the Jounin to attention.

That scroll had foretold her death in a battle against the leader of Akatsuki - a man going by the name of Pein who had killed Jiraiya. She also gave a few cursory instructions like the one that nominated Kakashi as her successor. Another directed them towards the sealed drawer of her desk. Sakura felt another stab in her chest when she heard the last line written by the Godaime: if Katsuya was summoned with their bodies then her mission was successful.

At last they had a reason for her death, and what an incredible reason it was. Jiraiya had lost and been killed, which meant that he had probably hoped to survive the encounter. The Godaime, on the other hand, had entered the battle with every intention of dying, and that made all the difference. To not heal her fatal wounds meant she must have used all her chakra for offensive attacks with no regard for herself.

Kakashi finally fell silent, and Uzuki handed out a few scrolls from the unsealed drawer. One to Shizune, one to Sakura, one to Naruto, one to Yamato. The rest, Sakura assumed, were for others or for Kakashi himself.

When no one made a motion to open their scroll, she tucked hers away in her pouch. She had a feeling the content was personal, and she wanted to be alone when she read it. That done, Kakashi dismissed the group, and they all turned to file out the door one by one.

"Ah, Sakura-chan," Kakashi called. "There's one more thing I want to mention to you."

"Yes?" she replied, stopping halfway across the office. Naruto and Sasuke hesitated as well, and she could see Sai pause near the door.

"I know I'm not official yet, but the first thing I plan on doing is promoting you and one other to the rank of Jounin," Kakashi said with his usual bored voice.

"EH?!" Sakura choked. "What?!"

"Congrats, Sakura-chan!!" Naruto exclaimed, coming over to slap her on the back.

She stared disbelievingly at her teammates as she tried to digest what Kakashi had just said. Her? A Jounin?

"I spoke with Neji earlier about how you conducted yourself on our mission," Kakashi explained, carefully avoiding mentioning Itachi directly. "You have demonstrated your skill as an elite shinobi beyond any shadow of a doubt."

The rush of pride, happiness, satisfaction, and surprise completely overwhelmed her already-exhausted emotions. It was like riding a roller coaster. She scooted around the desk and threw her arms around her sensei, who flailed as if he didn't know what to do. As if to complete the spectrum of emotions, she noticed Uzuki giving her a wary look and had to bite back the urge to stick out her tongue.

"Oy, oy, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto interjected once Sakura released her strangle-hold on the silver-haired man. "Who's the other shinobi being promoted?"

"You'll find out later," Kakashi said with a smile. "I want to tell him in person before I inform others."

"Don't you think Sasuke and I deserve to be Chuunin at least?" Naruto pressed.

"Sorry, Naruto-kun," Kakashi said, shaking his head. "But the promotion to Chuunin depends entirely on performance during the exam."

Naruto deflated momentarily, but as always he rebounded with a grin. "Sakura-chan, I'll treat you to dinner tonight. Let's get ramen!"

"I'll come, too, if Naruto is treating," Sai said with an huge smile. "Congrats, Hag. I didn't think you were good for anything."

Sasuke didn't say anything, but nodded to Kakashi and followed Naruto out of the room. He gave Sakura an appraising look as he passed, and she wondered if he was angry at her for surpassing him in rank. She remembered the first, and perhaps only, time she had performed better than the Uchiha genius. It was back in Water Country when Kakashi had taught them how to climb trees, and she still remembered the sulky glower that he had given her.

Following them down the hallway, she tuned out Naruto and Sai bickering and tried to wrap her mind around the news. Three years ago, who would have ever thought that she'd be the first of the Rookie Nine to become a Jounin? In fact, including the three Academy classes before theirs, it was just her and…

There at the bottom of the staircase was the other Jounin. His hair was tied back neatly again, but loose strands still framed his face as he turned his silver eyes towards the noisy group. From the smirk touching his lips, she knew that he had already known about her promotion.

"Neji!" she hollered, launching herself from halfway down the stairs. He caught her easily, but she felt his muscles tense as he wrapped his arms around her waist and skidded back a few steps. Maybe she was a little too giddy tonight, but goddamn it felt good. "You knew!" she said accusingly.

He let her drop to her feet in front of him with the same smug smirk. "I had a hunch," he said, leaning down to rest his forehead against hers. He had his hitai-ate again despite the casual clothing, and the metal was cool against her excited skin. "You deserve it," he whispered.

She blushed at the compliment, but pulled away a bit as the other three arrived at the bottom of the steps. "Neji, come to dinner with us. Naruto is treating," she suggested, tugging on his sleeve.

He glanced at the spluttering blond before telling her, "Sorry, but I'm eating at the Main House tonight. If you're interested, Hinata-sama invited her team to the onsen later this evening. You and your team are welcome as well."

Sakura brightened even more at the prospect of soaking her weary bones. "Is it alright if invite Ino, too?" she asked hopefully.

"Of course," Neji replied. "Later, then."

He didn't make any other public display of affection, but the smile he gave her as he turned and stated walking away was enough to set her heart racing all over again. How could she have ever taken him for granted?

Naruto had gone from surly to chipper in an instant after Neji mentioned the onsen, though as they left the building and started off towards Ichiraku, the blond fell unusually silent. 'He must be thinking of Jiraiya,' Sakura thought to herself. She got the feeling that they would have these moments of sad reflection often in the days to come.

Whether intentional or not, Sai was able to shake the somber mood by adding, "Hopefully you'll have grown a penis since the last time we were at an onsen," which of course resulted in a loud and prolonged outburst from Naruto. Sakura studied Sasuke as he watched the antics and wondered what he thought of it all.

Dinner at Ichiraku was more of the same, though there was some serious conversation about their lazy sensei becoming the next Hokage. "It makes sense," Sakura pointed out, "since he's one of the strongest Jounin in the village. And he was trained by the Yondaime."

"Does that mean that you'll be a Hokage, too, Ugly, since you were trained by the Godaime and the Rokudaime?"

She choked on her ramen and had to gulp a glass of water to clear her throat. "No, Sai, I will definitely leave that role up to Naruto," she said weakly.

Naruto beamed at her and launched into his usual rant about becoming Hokage. A faint hint of the old smirk touched Sasuke's lips and caught Sakura's attention, and when he noticed her watching he gave a tiny shrug. "Some things never change," he said quietly, and Sakura had to laugh out loud.

She remembered their first meeting with Sasuke after he had disappeared with Orochimaru. Outside the ruined Sound hideout, Sasuke had insulted Naruto by questioning his competence as Hokage when he couldn't even save his friend. Well, he was eating those words now, she thought happily to herself.

After watching Naruto pack away his tenth bowl, she led the group towards Ino's house to see if she wanted to join them at the Hyuuga onsen. Throwing the front door open, the pretty blonde had immediately latched onto Sakura's shoulders and began demanding details about everything that had happened. Shikamaru and Chouji appeared behind her, Chouji with a sandwich still in hand, and the three of them joined Team Kakashi as they redirected themselves towards the Hyuuga estate.

"Sakura-chan, have you ever been to the onsen there before?" Naruto asked. Ino looked equally interested in her answer.

"Once, a while ago," Sakura told them. Her face heated slightly at the memory of her first and only visit after she and Neji had spent the day sparring in the stream. She had left almost as soon as she had arrived, though, because…

She shot a quick glance at Sasuke and felt her face redden even more. 'This time we will stay and enjoy ourselves,' Inner Sakura said firmly.

Their conversation quieted down into hushed tones as they passed through the gate into the Hyuuga estate. Sakura led the way away from the main complex towards the small building next to the onsen. The boys and girls went their different ways, and Ino and Sakura ducked through the noren into the changing rooms.

An excited squeal told them that the room was already occupied, and Tenten rushed over to greet them. "I'm sorry for everything that's happened, but I'm so glad you're back and safe," the brunette said breathlessly. "Hinata told me all about the mission and finding Akatsuki and..." The older girl hesitated as if unsure if it was a sore topic.

"And Sasuke-kun came back to Konoha," Sakura finished for her.

"And what about what we spoke about," Tenten prompted, suddenly serious. Ino looked confused, but didn't interrupt.

"And I'm here, aren't I?" Sakura said just as vaguely. Tenten looked thoughtful for a moment before breaking into a huge grin.

Finally Ino decided to ask for clarification, but a small voice piped up from across the room. Hinata turned off the shower head that she had been rinsing off with and said, "I-I'm glad you and Neji-nii-san worked everything out."

"Ohh, I get it now," Ino said, snapping her finger.

Sakura wrapped a towel around herself and headed for the door leading outside, "Well I'm just glad he's back. If not for him or me, then for Naruto's sake."

Suddenly, Hinata swayed and fell against the wall clutching her towel tightly. "Is… is… Naruto-kun… here?!"

"Yeah, I hope you don't mind, but Neji invited my team over," Sakura told her innocently, though a wicked grin was a hair's width from plastering itself across her face.

"May…Maybe I shouldn't go in the hot spring tonight. I-I'm still a little tired from the mission," Hinata said faintly.

"Nonsense!" Sakura said happily, wrapping an arm around Hinata. "This will help you relax and loosen your muscles." She peeked over her shoulder and nodded for Ino and Tenten to help out.

"That's right!" Ino chimed in. "Hot springs are known for their healing properties." Tenten just put her hands over her face and smothered her laughter.

The three of them shepherded Hinata out into the crisp night air, and already they could hear a commotion from the other side of the bamboo fence that separated the men's bathing area from the women's. Naruto could clearly be heard shouting, "Stop looking at my penis!"

Hinata tried to run again, but her knees gave out, and Sakura pretty much hauled her the rest of the way to the water's edge. "Naruto! Stop causing a fuss at someone else's house!" Sakura reprimanded out loud.

"But, Sakura-chan…," Naruto whined.

"Don't make me come over there!" she fired back threateningly.

"Keep going as you see fit, Naruto," came Neji's smooth voice. "I wouldn't mind if she came over here."

Sakura felt herself blush as red as Hinata and quickly splashed into the hot spring in the hopes that the others attributed her flush to the hot water. She busied herself making sure her towel was tucked tightly around her torso, but she could see Tenten nearly doubled over with silent laughter.

"Lee, get out if you're going to bleed everywhere," came Neji's voice again, this time tinged with annoyance, and a they heard someone splash out of the water and hurry back into the men's changing room.

Tenten lost it for good and started gasping out loud as her laughter echoed through the night. Sakura and Ino couldn't help but join in, and even Hinata seemed to relax a little.

"Oy, Sakura-chan, congrats on your promotion," Kiba called over the fence. A low bark that was probably Akamaru's agreement followed his words.

"Thanks Kiba, but it's not official yet. You never know with Kakashi-sensei. He might forget," Sakura said with an eye roll.

"So Naruto, are you going to participate in the next Chuunin Exam?" Shikamaru asked. "The winter testing is in three months."

"Yeah, Sasuke and I will enter for sure!" Naruto replied enthusiastically with a lot of splashing.

"Who will be your third?" Ino asked. "You should start looking now cause a bad teammate can ruin everything." Chouji grunted in agreement.

"I'll be your third," Sai offered, and Sakura could envision the smile on his face.

"What?! No way!" Naruto spluttered.

"You're already ANBU," Sakura added. "And you're not allowed to take the exam if you already passed."

"Actually I never took the Chuunin Exam," Sai said cheerily. "Many in Root were chosen as children and trained with no regard to village standards."

Sakura thought about that a moment before saying, "You three are going to be the most over-qualified team of Genin in the history of Chuunin Exams."

"They'll have to go on missions and learn to work with each other first," Neji said blithely. "I suppose three months as Team Sakura should do the trick."

"EHH?!" Sakura blurted. "Team _what_?!"

"Well you can't expect Kakashi to lead you on missions once he becomes Hokage, right?" Neji pointed out.

"And you _are_ the highest-ranking member after him," Tenten mused innocently, though Sakura could swear she could see the brunette and Neji giving each other mental high fives.

"And that way you'll still have a four-man cell," Neji concluded with satisfaction.

Silence descended over the area. Ino was staring at Sakura as if she had never seen her before, and Tenten was resting her head on the edge of the hot spring with a small smile twitching the corners of her mouth. The good news was that silence meant that Sasuke wasn't trying to drown himself all over again. The idea of _her_ being _their_ captain was probably rocking their entire perception of the world. 'Good,' she thought smugly.

Again, Sai blindly broke the silence with an inappropriate comment, "Well if we're going to take this exam together, at least Sasuke has a penis even if you don't."

There was a strange hurking noise, which was probably Sasuke, followed immediately by Naruto's protests. "Stop talking about things like that!!"

"I thought that's what men talk about together," Sai said in confusion. "I read that it fosters bonding."

"Not like that!!" Naruto howled. "Not in front of girls!!"

"Oh I see," Sai said brightly, "You don't want them to know how sm… blrgh hrfftt… what did you dunk me for?"

Meanwhile, Sakura was staring at Ino, who was staring at Tenten, who was staring at Sakura. "I think I just bust an ovary," Tenten whispered to them, and they burst out in uncontrollable giggles.

Suddenly, Sakura worried that her ovary might have exploded, too, when Sai said, "Then is it proper to tell them how large Ne…"

She was saved by Ino who let out a strangled cry of "Hinata!" The dark-haired girl had passed out and was currently sinking into the steaming water. Reassuring the guys that everything was alright, they carried Hinata back into the changing room and found a cold washcloth for her forehead.

Sakura went back outside to tell the others that she and the other girls were done for the night, but it sounded like the men's spring had emptied as well. The continued shouts from Naruto were cut off as the door to the other changing room slid shut.

Suddenly she felt a presence behind her and whirled around just as Neji appeared from nowhere and forced her backwards against the fence. The bamboo scratched the backs of her legs, but she paid it no attention as Neji caught her lips quickly and leaned in close with one thigh between her legs. His kiss was hard and deep, and all she could think about were the two thin, wet towels currently separating them. The tips of his hair were wet and tickled her bare arms as his hands pressed against her lower back.

And then he was gone as quickly as he had appeared, and Sakura was left panting against the fence. Once she was sure her face was a reasonable shade of pink, she returned to the changing room to find a cold washcloth for herself, too. She most definitely just busted an ovary.

----

Could-Careless::hugs:: Thanks for your constant support!

xXHyuugaSakuraXx: You got it

nejisakura: Hopefully I'm back on track with updates (though that sounds familiar, ne?)

Dakishimeru: Haha, I'm glad you liked the elders. Truth be told I didn't want the Danzou part to be really long and drawn out, but I also didn't think it was realistic for Kakashi to just waltz back to the village and don the Hokage hat without any obstacles.

KunoichiruleALL: Ack, I'm sorry. I killed Suigetsu a few chapters ago Gomen ne!

Kinomi-chan: Poor Naruto – had to watch Sakura fawn all over Sasuke and now she's with Neji. Ah well, maybe I'll throw him a bone or two ;)

Jay95: Naruto was pouting that Sakura was cuddling up next to Neji to go to sleep. In my head, I imagined Naruto with his eyes narrowed and his whisker-marks mirroring his pout.

seguha: As always, thanks for coming to check out my update right away

.'Sabaku No Annie'.: I really appreciate your compliment! I first became a NejiSaku fan after reading an awesome fanfic (at first I was like "who and WHO?"), so I'm glad I can contribute to the pairing in the same way.

Da Cute Snowbunny: I have to admit, this chapter came out so quickly because I was getting all happy and sappy about the NejiSaku cuteness in the last chap.

AngelWing1138: Good to know I can still do cute fluff scenes I was worried all the fighting replaced my fluff abilities with too much action.

xnguyen: I'm so glad new readers are still finding this fic! Hopefully this chap had enough fluff, and the next will probably have some more

Lady Light: Poor Naruto never had a chance ;) I have something in mind for him, though, so don't worry

Mayumi Crescent Moon: Hopefully this chap is taking them back to how it all began in Reading Beneath.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 – Reading Ahead of the Lines

--

(AN) Sorry for the delay in updating this fic. My enthusiasm had dwindled, and I didn't want to write solely for the sake of updating. I knew something would inspire me to write again, and I was right. This chapter is dedicated to the Naruto Shippuden movie! Yay for Neji and Sakura! (/AN)

--

Despite the antics at the onsen, the hot water had done its job and Sakura's body was beginning to feel like jello again. She said goodnight to the other teams and jogged off towards her house. Without missing a step, she kicked off her shoes by the door, made her way to her bedroom, and wiggled under the covers. Sleep came immediately.

Instinct more than anything else pulled Sakura from her dream. She was sitting up with a kunai in each hand before her eyes fully opened. Her intruder did not seem to care and pulled her back down under the covers.

"You know, I'm glad that you're prepared at all times," Neji said, kissing first her chin, then her nose, then her forehead. "But you should really defend yourself when the attacker first arrives, not hours later."

She put the kunai back under her pillow and rubbed her eyes as she tried to comprehend the situation. "How long have you been here?" she asked sleepily.

"I gave you a 15 minute head start, but apparently that was too much," Neji said wryly.

"You followed me home?" Sakura asked, rolling over to peer at him. "Was it anything important?"

"No, I just wanted to continue what I had started by the hot spring," Neji told her. "But you were already sound asleep when I got here."

"You should have woken me up!" she told him, her cheeks starting to flush at the thought.

"Next time," he promised, tracing his fingertip down her neck and along her collarbone.

She was just about to point out that now was as good as any next time when there was a loud knocking at the door. "Sakura! Time to wake up!" her mother called. She felt her heart attempt to escape via her mouth as the doorknob rattled. "Why did you lock the door, honey?" came the voice through the door.

Neji was already on his feet and crossed the room to stand on one side of the doorframe. He flicked the lock and the door burst open. "My my, it must have been stuck," her mother said cheerfully.

Sakura swung her legs out of bed and was struck by the bizarre sight of her mother standing in the doorway with an armful of nicely-folded laundry and Neji standing on the other side of the open door in black pants and no shirt and his hair loose and unkempt. He looked like he was amused by the situation, but Sakura had a damnable time trying to keep her eyes focused on her mother without letting them stray to the much more attractive sight on the other side of the door.

She hurried over to her mother before the woman could step further into the room. "Thanks, Mom," she said, taking the folded clothes into her own arms.

"Breakfast will be ready in five minutes. Do you want your father and I to come with you today?" her mother asked with a worried frown.

"No, I'll be fine on my own," she assured her. "Let me get dressed, and I'll come downstairs."

She tried not to appear impatient as her mother turned and pulled the door closed, but there was no stopping her huge sigh when the latch finally clicked shut. Once she was sure the hallway was empty again, she jabbed her finger at Neji's bare chest accusingly, "Thanks for giving me time to prepare."

He grabbed the offending wrist and pinned it to the door over her head. "I thought it would be more suspicious if you had to fumble for the lock," he said, leaning down to kiss her lightly on the lips. She saw him notice the clothing in her other hand, and suddenly he backed off across the room to sit on her bed.

"I'm sorry, Sakura. I shouldn't be acting like this today of all days," he apologized. She was amazed to see his cheeks color ever so slightly.

"Please don't apologize," Sakura said gently as she walked over to stand in front of him. "Actually, I think the Godaime would want us to be happy and together. And I'm sure Jiraiya-sama would approve 100 percent," she added wryly.

Neji let out a dry chuckle as Sakura placed her hands on his shoulders and leaned down to meet his eyes. "Part of me felt guilty last night because I was so happy. My team was finally whole, you and I had worked things out, and I had even been promoted. I thought I was being selfish."

She moved to her nightstand and took out the scroll that Kakashi had given her the night before. Turning it over in her hands, she decided it was perhaps the most treasured possession she owned. Handing it to Neji, she murmured, "I think this will help you understand."

She took her black dress from the pile of clothes and stepped out into the hallway to head to the bathroom. While she brushed her teeth and combed her hair, she recited the scroll for seemingly the hundredth time in her head.

_Dear Sakura,_

_I apologize for not being able to say goodbye in person, but time is of the essence and duty waits for no one. I must admit that I was hesitant when you first appeared in my office three years ago, but truly you are a diamond in the rough. You have grown into a beautiful young woman with talent that far surpasses my own. I have taught you everything I know, though now you will have to master it on your own. If there is but one lesson that you remember, however, I hope it is that we should not let the past affect our future. I ran from the painful times in my life and lived trying to avoid more. If it hadn't been for Naruto, I would still be wandering from town to town with nothing left to live for. Now I am able to die in peace and with honor. There will always be heartache and hardships, especially for shinobi, but you must learn to embrace those times as a sign that something in your life was worth fighting for._

_As you know by now, I have chosen you as my successor to the summoning scroll. Use it wisely, for the slugs are a great resource. You have mirrored my own spirit and fighting style much more than Shizune, and as a result I leave my combat legacy to you. My biggest regret as I write this is that I will not be able to watch your growth with my own eyes. You have a spectacular future ahead of you. Live, love, and let nothing stand in your way._

When she returned to her bedroom, Neji was sitting on her bed wearing his black shirt and his hitai-ate. Thankfully he did not mention the scroll – Sakura wasn't sure if she was ready to talk about it yet. Instead, he just stood up and hugged her close. "I don't know if you'll want me around today or if you'll want time alone," he said awkwardly with his cheek pressed against her hair. "So you just tell me what I should do, and I will."

"I… it would be nice if you stayed with me," she said into his shirt. "At least until the ceremony is over."

"Of course," he whispered.

They stayed like that for a moment more before Sakura pulled away with a sigh. "I should go downstairs before they worry and come looking for me."

Neji caught her chin before she could turn away and studied her jade eyes. "I love you, Sakura," he said, giving her one last kiss.

"I love you too, Neji," she told him. And perhaps for the first time, she really believed those words and felt the weight of their truth – both his and hers.

He opened the window, and with one last smile, he was gone.

The rest of the day passed in a blur to Sakura. The funeral service was hard for her, as expected, but the letter the Godaime had left her helped put her mind at ease. That the great Sannin had gone to her death at peace with herself and with honor was truly more than any shinobi can ask for, and Sakura decided that if the woman had been content, so would she.

Shizune likewise seemed calmer than Sakura would have predicted, and she supposed the older woman also drew strength from whatever the Godaime had written in her scroll. Shizune had been officially named the Director of the Konoha Hospital and was responsible for entire operation of the facility. It was an enormous responsibility, but the fact that the Godaime thought her capable was also an enormous compliment, and Shizune seemed eager to prove her worthiness.

True to his words, Neji stayed by her side most of the day. Sometimes he lingered in the distance while she spoke with people, sometimes he followed her around with her hand tightly secured in his own. It wasn't until the crowds had thinned and the chairs and effects were broken down did she realize she had lost track of his whereabouts. The last she remembered was seeing him talking with Uzuki.

Naruto wanted to go meet Sasuke's other teammates, who were still being held in one of the ANBU prisions, so she decided to tag along as well. The guy, Juugo, and the girl, Karin, had agreed to the terms arranged by Anko and Ibiki. Juugo was excited to hear that there were several sealing techniques that could potentially control his fits of rage, and he was willing to do whatever they asked of him. Karin had mentioned that they used to keep Juugo locked up at his own request.

As for Karin, the girl was a hot-tempered, foul-mouthed kunoichi with a giant crush on Sasuke. However, it definitely made the situation easier because she was willing to go along with whatever Sasuke wanted. Both she and Juugo would be on probation like Sasuke and forbidden to leave the village without escorts.

Overall, Sakura was glad to see the situation was under control and everyone seemed satisfied. At one point, she had expressed regret for her team killing the third member of their team, and Karin had gone so far as to laugh at her. "'Cause any of us really cared about _him_," the dark-haired girl had scoffed.

Sakura had just smiled and nodded, but secretly she was wondering where the hell Sasuke had found these people.

Quietly, she said her goodbyes and left the building just as an argument was flaring up between Naruto and Karin. She stepped into the early evening sunlight and started walking home. She wasn't sure where Neji had gone off to, but she figured that might be the first place he would look for her.

She was halfway down the block when she noticed the figure leaning next to her door. He was back in his ANBU uniform, and she paused mid-stride to admire the view.

Sensing her presence, he looked up and watched her approach. She dashed the rest of the way to the house and landed in front of him with a big smile. "Is Kakashi-sensei already preparing for the announcement tomorrow?" When he didn't answer her right away, her smile quickly faded. "Is everything okay?"

"We need to talk," he replied. Her stomach gave a quick flutter at his guarded expressions, and she hoped nothing terrible had happened while she was at the prison.

She examined him more closely and noticed that he had his full pack slung across his shoulder. "Neji, are…" she began questioningly.

"Sakura, my team has been given another mission," he said looking out on the street. "We leave immediately."

"What?! Immediately?! What the hell?!" she spluttered. Her stomach had decided that fluttering would not suffice and instead plummeted to her feet.

He turned slowly to face her, but didn't quite meet her eyes. "Kakashi-sama is sending ANBU teams to all the Hidden Villages to officially announce the Godaime's death and his own appointment as Hokage. He wants us to beat any other messengers that might also bear the news, so he is dispatching us tonight before the official proclamation."

His words rolled around in her head before she actually digested them. "Which village are you going to?" she finally asked. Even Suna wouldn't be too bad. He could be back within a week.

"We're going to Earth Country," he told her.

Cocking her head to one side, she considered that. "That's not too bad. It should only take 4 or 5 days to get there, right?" Her optimism quickly died when she noticed he did not share her relief.

"Visiting the Hidden Villages is the main priority, and that is what we will be doing on the surface," Neji began.

"But?" Sakura prompted.

"But secretly we will also be contacting all the agents and spies we have working in these countries," he finished.

A hundred different thoughts exploded in Sakura's brain, and only some managed to find their way to her lips, though in no particular order. "Why are you still with ANBU anyway? I thought we agreed that you don't have to leave the village! How long will you be gone? How many agents are we talking about? All of Earth Country? Why can't Kakashi-sensei send a different team? Can't you just tell him no?"

As the last question slipped out of her mouth, she realized how childish she sounded. Slinging his pack to the ground, he reached out and pulled her against his chest. "I'm sorry. It's my fault for joining ANBU in the first place, but this is my duty now," he said into her hair.

Forcing a smile to her lips, she told him, "Don't apologize. You belong in ANBU. Kakashi-sensei needs shinobi like you."

He hugged her tighter before saying, "Since there are teams sent to each country, this mission shouldn't take as long as my original mission where we had only one team covering several countries. If everything goes smoothly, we could be back in 4 months."

Four months. That meant he would be gone for the holidays. Gone for most of winter. Anger and frustration warred with her inability to do anything. "Maybe I could go, too," she whispered against his neck.

Instead of replying with the answer they both already knew, he leaned down and kissed her gently. It was much different from the kiss the night before. This one was sad and already carried a hint of longing. It made her want to cry.

"You're needed here, Sakura," he said as he pulled away slightly and rested his hands on her shoulders. "Kakashi-sama needs you. Your team needs you. Shizune-san needs you. Use this time to take care of them because when I return, I will be reclaiming what is mine."

His voice became rough, and Sakura decided she was looking forward to being reclaimed. He seemed like a different person from the one who had quietly tried to slip away from her a week ago on this very spot.

This time, he at least seemed determined to make it a proper good-bye. "Remember I love you, Sakura-taichou," he said with a final kiss. Picking up his pack, he stepped back onto the street with a smirk. "I'll be back for you."

Sakura was forced to crack a small smile as she called after him, "Take care, Neji-senpai. I'll be waiting."

--


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Reading Ahead of the Lines

--

Sakura surveyed the area from her perch in the forest canopy outside Konoha. Not for the first time, she wished she had Neji's Byakugan so that she could see her surroundings better.

Instead, she flipped the switch on the transmitter strapped against her throat. "What is your distance to the target?"

After a second of static, a voice replied, "Five meters. I'm ready anytime."

"So am I," added another voice.

"Me, too," said a third.

Sakura saw a flicker of movement in the bushes below and made her decision immediately. "Go!" she said, and the forest was filled with a poofing noise as fifty shadow clones of Naruto appeared out of nowhere.

Suppressing a groan, she could only wait and see how things turned out.

All fifty clones charged towards the target, who was making a fast break for a dense patch of briars. The forest was again filled with poofing noises as the clones threw themselves on the long, sharp thorns and disappeared. Finally, all that was left was one scratched and bloody Naruto with his clothing stuck in 10 different places.

Sakura was wondering how they could flush their target out of the bushes when a small horde of giant rats appeared and slipped through the holes between the thorny vines. Despite being made of ink, they were still able to snap and scratch at the target, who finally gave up hiding in the briar patch and ran back into the open.

Five feet from the bush, a scaley black and green snake wrapped itself around the target and finally immobilized it for Sakura's inspection. She leaped down to the ground and walked over to the writhing form.

"One cat with a ribbon on its right ear. Looks like Mission Rescue Tora is a success!" she announced cheerily. "Sasuke, make sure your snake doesn't eat the cat. Sai, let's get Naruto out of that bush."

Leading the way towards the bright orange figure fighting a losing battle with the briars, she assured her team, "Don't worry, we'll get Kakashi-sensei for this one."

--

"Sakura-nee-san! Sakura-nee-san!" a high-pitched voice called through the street crowd. "Sakura-nee-san, wait!"

Forcing her legs to stop walking, she braced herself for what she knew was coming. A small figure came screeching to a halt and beamed up at her with beautiful silver eyes.

"Good morning, Hanabi-chan," Sakura said kindly despite her internal struggle not to run away.

The gangly girl leaned over and put her hands on her knees as she tried to regain her breath. "Sakura-nee-san, I've been looking for you everywhere."

Guilt stabbed angrily at Sakura's stomach for avoiding this girl for weeks, but she still had a hard time being around her. Taking a deep breath, she kept her smile glued firmly to her face.

"I know you're busy training with your team," the youngest Hyuuga said, "but I was hoping you could help me practice my ninjutsu."

Training, again. A month ago, the girl had asked Sakura to help her train, and of course the Jounin consented. After only an hour, Sakura found herself somewhere between hating the world and collapsing into tears of depression. The girl fought just like Neji, which was to be expected, but it was a painfully accurate reminder of him. It didn't help that Hanabi was growing up to look more like Neji's sister than Hinata's.

After that sparring session, every time Sakura saw the girl, her silver eyes drove spikes into Sakura's chest.

"Sure, how does tomorrow sound?" Sakura suggested. She had to overcome this. She couldn't let her emotions dictate her life like this.

"Sounds great!" Hanabi beamed. Then her eyes grew more serious. "I know this is tough for you, Sakura-nee-chan. I miss Neji-nii-san, too. I don't want to make you even sadder, but Neji-nii-san said you were the best person to help me prepare for the Graduation Exam."

Sakura just stared with surprise at the young girl's insight.

Hanabi's expression grew bright again as she scampered back into the crowd. "See ya tomorrow!" the girl called over her shoulder.

Sakura exhaled slowly as she watched the girl's dark hair disappear into the throng of people. _Hyuugas and their damnable eyes_, she thought to herself.

--

"Oy, Sakura-chan, are you even paying attention? The big fight is next!" Sakura looked up to find a fox-faced Naruto shouting inches from her ear. Planting her palm squarely in his face, she sent him flying backwards a couple meters.

"Don't bother Buso-taichou when she's reading her love letters," Sai said from her other side. She sent him sprawling across the benches for good measure, too.

Taking one more glance at the last line of the letter from Neji, she rolled the scroll back up and tucked it into her pouch. He had written: _I wish your team good luck at the exams, and I hope you will be there in top medical form to prevent any serious injuries from occurring with your three Genin._

Smirking, she turned to her three over-powered Genin teammates. Naruto was already back on his feet and beaming at the crowds gathered in Kirigakure's tournament stadium, and Sasuke sat on the bench quietly unwrapping the bandages around his wrists. As Sai sat back down next to her with a wary glance, she realized she probably shouldn't have punched him since she would need his help later. She wanted to send a letter to Neji after the exam was over, and she would need Sai's ink animals to deliver the message. Neji could mail his letters via regular post whenever he was in a city or village, but Sai was the only way she could send mail back since Neji's location constantly changed.

She had already devised a plan with her team to limit the chance of serious injury during the exam. She had known without a doubt that all three would make it to the semi-finals, which meant they would have to fight each other. Given their current strength, such a battle would be of epic proportions, not to mention completely inappropriate for a Chuunin Exam.

After waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, she decided she had to take action. Her nightmare had consisted of Naruto and Sasuke getting out of control and summoning Gamabunta and Manda, who promptly destroyed the testing facility. The next day, she broached the subject by pointing out that they didn't want to display any of their highest-level techniques because representatives from all the Hidden Villages would be watching. It'd be a shame if the Konoha shinobi gave away all their secret aces, right?

To ensure that things didn't get out of hand, she and her team spent the past month rehearsing fight scenes instead of actually training. They would show just enough skill to pass, but not the true level of their abilities. Sai hadn't cared much about winning or losing, so he agreed to lose to Sasuke in the semifinal. Sakura had rushed out into the arena as soon as the fight was over so that no one noticed that Sai was actually unhurt.

This final fight between Naruto and Sasuke had her a bit more concerned, and she scooted to the edge of her seat as the two teammates walked out into the center of the stadium. They had agreed that it would end in a draw with both of them knocking each other out much like Sakura and Ino did in the first exam. She was worried, however, that one or the other might try to 'wake up' at the last moment and spoil things. Stupid male pride.

She began to relax as the "fight" progressed largely as expected. She had been debating whether or not to tell Neji about the plan since it mirrored his own losing fight with Naruto. They started off with the "genius" beating up on the "drop-out", who then fought back after a long speech about becoming Hokage someday. After all, it wouldn't have been realistic without at least that.

Naruto and Sasuke had decided on their own that they wanted to finish things with Chidori and Rasengan, conveniently leaving out the fact that they both have developed those jutsu further. From the snippets she had heard about their battle at the Valley of the End, she worried that this would reawaken bad memories for the two teammates, but they seemed satisfied and a little amused by the whole charade.

As the finale drew near, she glanced around at all the spectators. Everyone seemed enthralled by this unexpectedly elite battle at the Chuunin Exams. Everyone except for Kakashi, that is, who was reading one of his books. A giant whooshing noise drew her attention back to the center of the arena where Naruto and Sasuke had finally met with their 'ultimate' techniques.

The arena exploded in a ball of crackling light that blinded Sakura. She waited impatiently as the dust slowly settled, and finally she could just barely see two bodies lying at the bottom of an enormous crater. "Sai, let's go!" Sakura said, nudging him in the ribs.

Trying to appear concerned, they rushed over to their teammates just as the mediator arrived. "Looks like they knocked each other out, huh?" Sakura asked a little too hopefully.

"Looks like it," the Mist Chuunin agreed hesitantly.

"Alrighty then, we'll make sure they get proper medical treatment," Sakura said firmly. She threw Naruto over her shoulder, and Sai likewise picked up Sasuke. They were halfway across the arena when the judge announced the draw, and everyone broke out in thunderous applause.

Sakura tensed because she knew if there was one thing Naruto could never resist, it was attention, but the blond remained completely motionless until they made it to the locker rooms and threw him on a table.

Sasuke pushed himself off of Sai's shoulder and muttered under his breath. "Sasuke, did you use genjutsu on Naruto?" Sakura asked as she examined Naruto's still body.

"Yeah, the idiot wanted to keep fighting, so I put him to sleep," Sasuke said with a hint of annoyance.

It was the same genjutsu that Sasuke had used during the Itachi mission, so Sakura had no problem dispelling it, and Naruto sat up with a groan. "You bastard! We agreed to fight to a draw!" he howled, pointing a finger at the Uchiha.

"You're the moron who wanted to keep going past the ending," Sasuke shot back with a scowl.

"Naruto, it _did_ end in a draw," Sakura interjected before they had the _real_ final battle in this cramped locker room.

"But he knocked me out!" Naruto protested with a pout.

"And then he faked being knocked out himself," Sakura explained. She was actually pretty stunned herself that Sasuke had willingly laid down on the ground after putting Naruto to sleep. That meant his relationship with Naruto was worth more than his pride in winning the competition.

Naruto was already voicing his next protest when her words sank in. "He… what? Really?" His blue eyes watered up as he turned towards his stoic teammate, but fortunately there was a knock at the door before the tears could really start flowing.

"You two act tired and hurt," Sakura hissed at them before opening the door.

"Hello!" Kakashi said merrily as he poked his head into the room. "I just wanted to let my adorable students know that they passed the exam and are now Chuunin."

Naruto and Sakura cheered loudly, followed belatedly by Sai who failed in his attempt to emulate them. Sasuke just nodded his acknowledgement of the fact. "I also want to thank you, Sakura-chan, for keeping these three under control. I know that it was your influence that prevented them from destroying the stadium, the village, and probably the country."

Sakura laughed and gave him a mock salute, and the four of them set about packing their belongings for the return to Konoha.

--

Sakura rushed up the stairs, gave Uzuki a quick wave as she dashed by, and burst into the Hokage's office. "Sorry I'm late! We had a patient check in just as I was getting ready to leave," she explained.

"It's okay, Sakura-chan. I was just catching up on my reading," Kakashi said gesturing to the scrolls on his desk. She relaxed a little since no one else seemed to have arrived yet, either.

"Don't let him fool you," Uzuki commented from the door. "Those are Jiraiya-sama's unpublished manuscripts."

The two kunoichi exchanged eye rolls as Uzuki stepped into the room and took her position standing beside Kakashi. She was followed almost immediately by Naruto, Sai, and Sasuke.

"Sorry we're late!" Naruto blurted. "We were training and lost track of time."

Kakashi frowned at them. "Surely I taught you all better excuse than that," he sighed sadly. "Now the reason I called you all here is that I have received recent, reliable information on the locations of the remaining Akatsuki members. In particular, there was a woman associated with Pein who may take up his mantle."

"Is this our new mission?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Yes, I want you to look for these people with the woman as the top priority," Kakashi said, sliding a folder of files across the desk. "Your first lead on her is in Grass Country."

"When do we leave?" Sasuke asked.

"Tomorrow morning. We don't know how long she will stay in one place, so I need you to go immediately. If that lead doesn't work out, there are more places and people to contact in the mission details," Kakashi replied, tapping the yellow folder. "I want you in constant contact with the ANBU network so that information can flow in both directions." He glanced at Sai, who nodded his understanding.

"Umm… Kakashi-sensei… how long do you think we'll be gone for?" Sakura interjected. In his last letter, Neji had written that they were finally nearing the end of their list of contacts, and she really wanted to be there when he got back.

"This is an open-ended mission," Kakashi told them. "Until now, we've waited until we got a report on Akatsuki, investigated it, and then waited until we heard more. It's time we actively pursue them and find out exactly what they've been up to regardless of how much time it takes."

"Looks like we'll have to postpone your birthday party, Sakura-chan," Naruto said sadly. "But we'll make up for it in Grass Country!"

Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose, and Sai said, "I've never planned a celebration before, but aren't surprise parties supposed to be a surprise for the person having the birthday?"

Naruto clapped his hand to his forehead, and Sasuke gave him a slap on the back of his head for good measure. "Idiot," he muttered at the blond.

Before Sakura could ask for more details, Kakashi interrupted them. "Actually, Sakura-chan, you won't be a part of this mission. I have something else for you."

"Wait, what?" she asked, shaking her head. She was still trying to imagine what kind of birthday party her three teammates could possible organize. The choices were ostentatious, boring, or misguided. "I won't be going?"

"No, this other mission was actually left specifically for you by the Godaime, but she wanted you to be 17 before I gave it to you," Kakashi explained. He glanced at the three boys and gave them a big smile. "You three leave at sunrise, so you better get going. Sakura-chan, you stay here a moment." He nodded to Uzuki, who herded the others out of the room.

Sakura stood rooted to the floor as she watched her teammates file through the door. They were going on an S-rank mission together, while she was left out? That was so unfair!

"Here are the details left by the Godaime," Kakashi told her, sliding another folder across the desk. "She wants you to visit all the surrounding countries and document their healing techniques. The instructions mention everything from medic-nin at other Hidden Villages to witch doctors and shaman in the backcountry towns and hamlets."

"Are you serious?" Sakura blurted out. "That's an enormous goal! That will take years!" She and Tsunade had often talked about how much forgotten and undiscovered information there was in the world, but she had never envisioned having the task handed to _her_. And to leave Konoha for so long… "Can't you send someone else? Maybe send out teams to get it done faster?" she suggested.

"Sorry, Sakura-chan. This mission literally has your name on it. I can't spare any teams right now, either," Kakashi said apologetically.

"When do I leave? Maybe I can wait until Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai return so they can go with me," she asked hopefully. "Sasuke would be good for learning new jutsu and Sai would be good for archiving everything."

"Considering how long this mission will be, I thought it would be best for you leave as soon as possible," Kakashi explained gently. _Damnit, what a lousy birthday present_, she thought to her self.

"One other thing, however, is that you will need an escort for this mission," Kakashi said, holding up one finger.

"A _what_?!" Sakura screeched. Why were they sending her on this mission if they didn't trust her? Talk about adding insult to injury!

"We just got a hold of this," Kakashi said casually, holding up a small journal. "It's the latest copy of Amegakure's Bingo Book." He opened it casually and flipped through a few pages. "Ah, here I am. My, that's an outdated photo," he commented.

"Kakashi-sensei…" Sakura said in exasperation. "What does…"

"Oh, and look at this. A new entry," he continued as if he hadn't heard her protest. Turning the book around, he tapped his finger on one of the pages. "That looks a lot like one of my precious students."

Sakura's mouth dropped open as she dove halfway across the desk to take a closer look. It was a terrible photo of her – it looked like it might have been taken while she was yelling at Naruto during the Chuunin Exam.

"So you see? I don't think you should be wandering around completely alone considering your new status in the shinobi world," Kakashi concluded with a smile.

Dragging her eyes away from the book, she got indignant again. "But doesn't this prove that I don't need a babysitter?" she fired back hotly.

Kakashi frowned and said, "Sadly things are different for kunoichi than they are for male shinobi. There will be many men who resent that you have been acknowledged as stronger than them, and they will have something to prove. Isn't that right, Yuugao?"

Sakura looked over her shoulder to see Uzuki standing in the doorway again. "Unfortunately, he's right, Sakura," the older woman said with a sigh. "I've had plenty of men challenge me for the sole sake of determining who is stronger, and they don't always fight fair. Imagine Naruto, and then make him big, mean, and nasty."

Climbing back off the desk, Sakura couldn't help but shudder at the thought of walking down the street while a hundred Narutos pointed at her and shouted, 'RIVAL!'

"Anyway, Sakura-chan, your escort is here," Uzuki added kindly.

"Send him in," Kakashi told her.

Uzuki disappeared for a moment, and Sakura turned back around to make one more plea to the silver-haired Hokage. "Kakashi-sensei, it's pointless to assign someone weaker than me as my bodyguard, and it's a waste to send two Jounin on such a low-rank mission," she argued quickly, planting both hands on the desk to prevent them from clasping together and begging. Visions of spending months upon months with Ibiki or Anko gave her voice a hint of desperation.

"You sent for me, Hokage-sama?" came a smooth voice from behind her. Sakura froze. She didn't even notice her sensei's enormous smirk, which wasn't concealed in the least by his mask.

Whipping her head around, she met an equally surprised pair of silver eyes standing in the doorway. "Sakura…," he said almost to himself. He was wearing an ANBU uniform complete with kodachi, though everything looked a little worn and weathered from the travel.

"Neji!" she gasped. She looked at Kakashi and then back at Neji. Did that mean…? Uzuki poked her nose above Neji's shoulder so she could see into the room and gave Kakashi a triumphant thumbs up.

"Thanks for returning so quickly, Neji-kun," Kakashi said as if nothing unusual was going on. "I'm sorry to send you off on another mission again so soon. Did Yuugao outline the details for you?"

Neji's eyes snapped to the Rokudaime, and he said, "Yes, she said I was assigned to a long-term escort mission." His eyes trailed back to Sakura, who was still motionless with her hands on desk.

"Good, good. The details are in this folder, but your only task is to make sure Sakura-chan can safely carry out the goals of her mission. I'm sure you've gotten a good look at the rest of the world while you were gone, and I'm sure you have a good idea of all the things that can go wrong."

Neji nodded, but his eyes had wandered back to Sakura.

"Hokage-sama," Uzuki called from behind Neji. "Why don't you let these two go pack and prepare, and you can brief them tomorrow before they leave?"

Kakashi gave a dry chuckle and said, "Yuugao's right. I'll see you both tomorrow at noon. Happy Birthday, Sakura-chan!"

Neji gave a slight bow, and Sakura finally managed to push herself straight, though her head was still spinning. Suddenly she was hurtling out the window and up onto the roof of the building. "Neji!" she squawked from over his shoulder. She could faintly hear laughter coming from the open window as he landed lightly and sat her on top of one of the railings. "When did you…" she began, and then he was kissing her.

At first her mind refused to admit it was him, and she tried to push away so she could make sure it wasn't Naruto playing a prank. She would KILL him if this was a prank. But the hand on her lower back and the tongue tickling her lips convinced her quickly that this Neji was the real deal. No one else could kiss her so perfectly.

She had rehearsed this reunion in her head for months – she would meet him at the gate, and he would gush about how much he missed her, and she would cry with happiness as cherry blossoms fell from the trees. This was much better.

She was so absorbed in the feel of his lips on her throat that she didn't even hear when he spoke. "What?" she asked breathlessly.

"Are you parents home?" he asked again, nipping at her skin lightly.

"I don't know. Why does that matter?" she answered. Who cared what her parents were doing? She only saw them occasionally on weekends, anyway. Oh. Understanding dawned with a fresh delivery of blood to her cheeks. "I actually don't live with them anymore. Since I've been getting paid as a Jounin, I could afford my own apartment. It's half a block from where Naruto and Sasuke live," she explained

Sakura squeaked again as she was lifted off the railing and launched back into the air. Snuggling into his chest, she relaxed in his arms and watched the town fly by in a blur. "I think you've gotten faster, Neji-kun," she teased.

He spared her a glance without breaking stride and said, "I've never wanted to get somewhere as much as I do right now."

Blushing, she changed the subject. "Did you just get back?"

"Yeah, and I came straight to the Hokage's office like his instructions directed," he replied.

"Instructions?" Sakura asked.

"Four days ago I received an order to return to Konoha immediately and go straight to meet Hokage-sama. I had no idea what the summons was for."

"He planned all this without telling us," Sakura muttered to herself. What a conniving bastard-of-a-sensei. What an awesome best-sensei-in-the-world.

"Frankly, I don't care who planned what," Neji said. "I'm just glad to be back in Konoha. I was going to punch a hole in the wall when Uzuki told me I was being reassigned immediately. Which building?"

"The blue house with the white door. I'm the apartment on the left," she said. "To be honest, I was kind of worried that after traveling around so much, you wouldn't want to come back." She left out the part where she would wake up at night crying after dreaming that Neji had come back with a wife or never came back at all.

He landed on her front porch and set her back on her wobbly feet. As if to reply, he pinned her to the door with another kiss while he rattled the doorknob unsuccessfully.

"…have a ke…," she said into his mouth, but he didn't give her a chance to explain. Touching a fingertip to the lock, he used a thin strand of chakra to pick the lock and bust open the door.

"SURPRISE!!"

Neji froze with one foot through the door and Sakura clutched against his chest. Sakura just gawked at the small crowd stuffed in her tiny living room. It looked like all of her friends were present along with some of the staff from the hospital. Even Temari, who must have been visiting from Suna, was there.

"Uh…," she said stupidly as she extricated herself from Neji's arms. "Wow."

"Happy Birthday!" Sai cheered, though everyone else remained silent with embarrassment.

Sasuke coughed into his fist, and Tenten said, "Neji! We didn't know you were back…"

Ino smacked Naruto on the head. "Why didn't you tell us Neji was back? We wouldn't have scrambled to move the party to tonight!"

"This was our only chance since we're leaving tomorrow," Naruto whined. "And we didn't know Neji was back, either!"

"Uh, Sakura, I should visit the main house and repack my gear. I'll be back in an hour or two," Neji said, turning back towards the door.

"Wait," she said, latching onto his arm. "Don't go." A 12-year-old part of her thought that if he left now, he might never come back.

He kissed her forehead gently and glanced over her head at the embarrassed crowd. "Have fun with everyone tonight since we'll be leaving together tomorrow," he whispered to her. "I'll be back later."

"Sorry, Sakura," Ino said hastily as Neji slipped out and closed the door. "We'll all head home now."

"No!" Sakura said quickly. "No, actually, I'm leaving for a mission tomorrow so this is a good chance to say goodbye."

Tenten gave the door a skeptical look, so Sakura quickly explained the situation and her mission. Tenten and Ino hooted while Chouji and Temari unwrapped a tray of sandwiches. Everyone quickly relaxed into the usual chatter as Naruto jumped up to announce that he, Sasuke, and Sai were also going a long mission.

"You guys get all the good missions while I have to stay here and watch the shop," Ino complained, pouring herself a glass of iced tea. "It will be quiet without everyone," she pouted.

"Eh, we all knew this would happen eventually, right?" Shikamaru added. "It's in the job description."

"Still, I'm going to miss everyone," Sakura sighed. "I feel like we were all finally together, and now we're leaving each other again. "

"It was fun traveling with Ero-sennin," Naruto commented, suddenly serious, "But I really missed being a part of a team." He slapped Sasuke and Sai on the back. "I'm glad this time we'll be going together." Sai gave him a huge smile, Sasuke just shrugged, and Sakura was sad that she wouldn't get to spend more time with them. The past seven months had been almost perfect, except…

"Well think of it this way," Tenten said. "You got to spend time with all of us, so now you can spend time with Neji."

The reality of her new assignment hit her all over, and she must have turned completely red in the face because Ino laughed and threw a pillow at her. "Your forehead could pass for a stop sign right now!"

It was bittersweet seeing all the people she loved gathered in one place. Her friends from the hospital were excited about her new mission and demanded that she write them whenever she found something interesting. Surveying the cramped apartment, she wished she could freeze time and keep everyone together in Konoha for just a little bit longer.

Finally, there was a knock at the door, and Ino perked up immediately. She began shooing everyone towards the exit while Lee opened the door to let Neji in. Suddenly her apartment felt ten times smaller as she tried to hug everyone and say her goodbyes. Naruto and her teammates were last, and she clenched her jaw in a smile so that she wouldn't break down and cry like she always seemed to do.

"Keep in touch with me!" she said to Sai, who mimicked her hug perfectly. He even kicked up one heel girlishly.

"I will," he promised. "Just use that scroll I gave you."

Touching Sasuke still felt strange. He was definitely not the physical type, but he didn't complain when she gave him a quick hug. He even gave her a half-smile half-smirk when she said, "I'm glad you'll be there to keep these guys out of trouble." Over the months since he had returned, he had maintained the stoic, silent façade, however he seemed more and more responsive to those around him.

On cue, Naruto screwed his face up into a pout, and Sakura fought off another pang of nostalgia as she gave the loudest member of her team a hug as well. "Take care of yourself, Naruto," she chided gently. "Stay out of trouble and _think_ before you go rushing into things."

"Aw, Sakura-chan," Naruto whined. "Why do you only yell at _me_?"

"If you ever need help, just send one of the slugs," Sasuke said quietly to the floor. "You know we will come as fast as we can."

At that moment, Tenten called out from the door where she and Lee had been talking to Neji. "Good luck, Sakura! Don't forget to write to us when you can!" Sakura was glad for the interruption because she was about to get weepy. That had been the single nicest thing Sasuke had ever said to her!

With a final smile and wave, the three Chuunin filed towards the door where Neji was now standing alone. Neji gave a polite bow that was mainly directed towards Naruto. Sakura wasn't sure if Neji ever got over Sasuke's betrayal and the failed mission to retrieve him, but she knew he held a lot of respect for Naruto, of all people.

Sai passed Neji with a cheery smile, followed by Sasuke who gave a slight nod. Naruto paused to face the Hyuuga and then glanced over his shoulder at Sakura, who was still by the couch. "Take good care of her," the blond said in a low voice.

"I will," Neji replied solemnly. "We will take care of each other."

Naruto studied him a moment more before nodding and following his best friends out into the night. The door clicked shut quietly, and Neji lowered his pack onto the floor. He was wearing plain black hakama with his black, sleeveless ANBU shirt. His dark gray obi was tied neatly and matched his thin headband.

Walking towards him, Sakura still couldn't believe that what she had been dreaming of for months was finally standing in her apartment. She stopped in front of him and tilted her head back to look at him closely. He was taller now – she had to stand on her toes as she reached up to kiss him gently, as if she was testing that he was real and their meeting earlier hadn't just been a delicious dream.

He pulled her tight against his body, and her hands roamed across his chest as their kiss deepened. He had filled out a little while he was gone, too – he felt more solid. Or perhaps that was just because she was comparing him to a memory.

Pushing away, she took his hand to lead him down the hallway towards her bedroom. She felt self-conscious as Neji carefully peeled off her clothes, but the darkness helped to hide her red cheeks. She tugged his shirt over his head and tossed it into the corner and then let out a tiny squeak as his body came into exquisite contact with her own bare skin.

His torso felt almost feverish, but his fingers were cool and light as they played across her shoulders. Stumbling backwards, they tumbled on her bed, and she shivered as his lips tickled over her neck. Suddenly, the skin under Neji's tongue grew hot and she felt a jolt that ran straight through her stomach heading south.

"Neji, what was…," she began, but he cut her off with a kiss. His tongue brushed against her's, and she felt another jolt that left her whimpering into his mouth. He was using his _tongue_ to stimulate her own chakra! She could feel her whole body responding to the increased flow.

He broke the kiss and began trailing his lips down her collarbone and between her breasts, and her last coherent thought was that Hyuugas really could do amazing things with their chakra. This was going to be a phenomenal mission.

--

(AN) And with that, I've finish this side story, and I will return to writing for Reading Beneath (especially now that we have some real plot going on in the series). Thanks for bearing with me through this - it was much longer than I had expected! I'm glad to have _some_ sort of closure, however, since Reading Beneath will always be open-ended by nature. I was going to add an epilogue to this fic, and I still might, but for now I want to leave it like this. Thank you everyone for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it

To everyone who reviewed this fic - I've really enjoyed being able to interact with everyone, even if they were only in short comments. I mentioned this in my Authors Notes in Reading Beneath, but I originally began writing this out of selfishness. I wanted to see Neji as a nice guy like in Shippuden, so I decided that I would just have to write it myself! I'm amazed, flattered, and thankful that others have enjoyed it as well! (/AN)

Da Cute Snowbunny: Thanks for sticking with this fic, even when I was too busy to update frequently!

Sugarplum-sweetheart: I would never do such a thing! :P

nejisakura: Sorry for making you wait!

Goatis: I hope you don't mind, but I threw in your idea about Sakura being in the Bingo Book. Brilliant! I love it!

Mistress DragonFlame: I really dragged this out, didn't I? I was determined to finish, though!

AngelWing1138: Thanks for always reading and giving me a good chuckle :)

Dakishimeru: I love you guys, too! Thanks for always reviewing. I enjoyed getting to know everyone a little.

pamellka: I hope it was worth the wait!

Jay95: Hell yeah I noticed! I should go find a screenshot for my desktop... :P

ElasticBobaTurtle: Wow, thank you for the compliment! This is my first big fic, so I'm glad you enjoyed it

BelleDayNight: You hit the nail on the head! I wanted Sakura to grow a little bit more before I ended the story, but they were definitely going to end up together ;)

relyss0: I'm so glad you enjoyed both stories! Please keep an eye on Reading Beneath the Lines because I will shift back to that now (Yay for plot advancement in the manga!).

seguha: Thanks for reading over all these months! Jeez, we're probably getting close to a couple years by now!

al2010: Oh ye of little faith! I am NejiSaku to the bones ;)

chriss101: I would never kill Neji! Let's hope Kishimoto-sensei feels the same way!


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